The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday approved Yageo Corp’s (國巨) application to increase its investment in the nation by NT$14.7 billion (US$487.53 million), as part of a program to encourage Taiwanese companies to invest back home.
The company’s decision to almost double the investment to a total of NT$31.2 billion, from the NT$16.5 billion announced last year, is aimed at diversifying its operational risks following disruptions in Chinese production during the COVID-19 outbreak, the ministry said.
As COVID-19 broke out during the Lunar New Year holiday, Yageo, the world’s third-largest manufacturer of multilayer ceramic capacitors, saw utilization rates at its facilities in China’s Suzhou and Dongguan drop from 50 percent to 30 percent, as local authorities imposed strict containment measures.
The company said that it would relocate part of its Chinese production back to Taiwan, as it looks to satisfy clients’ orders and to capture market demand from 5G-related applications and automotive electronics, a company statement said.
Yageo said it would expand production capacity at its plants in Kaohsiung’s Dashe (大社) and Nanzih (楠梓) districts.
Aside from setting up a research and development center, the company said it has started construction of a new plant at the Dafa Industrial Park (大發工業區), which would create about 1,900 job opportunities.
The ministry yesterday also approved an application from Taiwan Lamination Industries Inc (台灣積層工業) as part of another government program that also seeks to boost investments.
The company, which specializes in flexible packaging and multicompound materials, last year applied to invest NT$500 million to set up a new manufacturing facility in Taoyuan’s Jhongli Industrial Park (中壢工業區) to improve production efficiency, it said.
Taiwan Lamination now plans to invest nearly NT$1 billion to install solar panels and industrial clean rooms at its Jhongli plant to create a more environmentally friendly manufacturing process, it said, adding that it would generate more than 20 job opportunities.
RUN IT BACK: A succesful first project working with hyperscalers to design chips encouraged MediaTek to start a second project, aiming to hit stride in 2028 MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s biggest smartphone chip supplier, yesterday said it is engaging a second hyperscaler to help design artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators used in data centers following a similar project expected to generate revenue streams soon. The first AI accelerator project is to bring in US$1 billion revenue next year and several billion US dollars more in 2027, MediaTek chief executive officer Rick Tsai (蔡力行) told a virtual investor conference yesterday. The second AI accelerator project is expected to contribute to revenue beginning in 2028, Tsai said. MediaTek yesterday raised its revenue forecast for the global AI accelerator used
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Dutch chipmaker Nexperia BV’s China unit yesterday said that it had established sufficient inventories of finished goods and works-in-progress, and that its supply chain remained secure and stable after its parent halted wafer supplies. The Dutch company suspended supplies of wafers to its Chinese assembly plant a week ago, calling it “a direct consequence of the local management’s recent failure to comply with the agreed contractual payment terms,” Reuters reported on Friday last week. Its China unit called Nexperia’s suspension “unilateral” and “extremely irresponsible,” adding that the Dutch parent’s claim about contractual payment was “misleading and highly deceptive,” according to a statement
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