Five foreign semiconductor and pharmaceutical companies are to invest more than NT$11 billion (US$336.9 million) in Taiwan in the next three years, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
To encourage more foreign companies to invest in Taiwan, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Bill Cho (卓士昭) led a delegation on a visit to 11 companies in the US and Canada from Aug. 8 to Tuesday last week.
“We inked letters of intent with five of the 11 companies, including semiconductor equipment manufacturer S-Cubed Inc and Pharmascience Inc,” Cho told a press conference in Taipei.
Vivian Lien (連玉蘋), director-general of the ministry’s Department of Investment Services, said this was the second year in a row that S-Cubed signed a letter of intent with the ministry.
The semiconductor equipment manufacturer last year invested NT$500 million in a logistics center in Taiwan, as part of the firm’s efforts to expand its reach in the Asian market, Lien said.
S-Cubed’s clients include Taiwanese chip packaging and testing services providers Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密) and Powertech Technology Inc (力成), she said.
After investing in a logistics center, S-Cubed plans to invest another NT$500 million to set up a research and development (R&D) as well as manufacturing center in the nation, Lien said.
Apart from S-Cubed, Lien said that Canadian IC solutions provider Sidense Corp, gaming developer Ubisoft Montreal Inc and Pharmacience also said they would like to establish R&D centers in Taiwan, Lien said.
The companies cited “Taiwan’s complete supply chains, industry clusters and pool of talent” as the main reasons for establishing R&D centers in the nation, she said.
Lien said the government in May amended regulations to encourage foreign companies to invest in such centers, offering a subsidy of up to 50 percent of their R&D investment if the centers are established through strategic partnerships with Taiwanese companies.
Although General Electric Co (GE) did not ink a letter of intent with the ministry, the US company is to invest an additional NT$1.5 billion into its joint venture with Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corp (長榮航太科技) — GE Evergreen Engines Services (長異發動機維修), Lien said.
Moreover, GE plans to spend NT$2.7 billion to purchase aviation and medical equipment from Taiwan in the next three years, she added.
Foreign direct investment totaled US$5.75 billion last year, but reached only US$1.98 billion in the first half of this year, Investment Commission figures showed.
As part of the ministry’s efforts to boost foreign investment, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Yang Wei-fu (楊偉甫) last month led a delegation to Japan, followed by Cho’s visit to the US and Canada.
Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) is to lead a delegation to Germany, Switzerland and Finland next month, Lien said.
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