Northrop Grumman Corp will allocate US$100 million annually to Taiwan-related projects starting next year, an executive with the U.S.-based defense contractor said yesterday.
Northrop Grumman corporate vice president and global business development officer Stephen O'Bryan made the pledge during a press event at the Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Expo (TADTE), which opened at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center's Hall 1 yesterday.
Photo: REUTERS
In his address, O'Bryan said his company, a global giant in the aerospace and defense business, just opened an office in Taipei last month to accelerate access to strengthen partnerships with customers and local industry.
"Keeping with the last component of engagement with Taiwan's industry, I'm happy to announce today that Northrop Grumman will be committing to US$100 million annually of opportunities for Taiwan to become part of Northrop Grumman's global supply chain," he said.
Over the coming months, the company will ask its newly-appointed Taiwan office chief Fisher Huang (黃思勳) to engage with Taiwan's defense industries and to understand their capabilities, O'Bryan said.
"And then in early 2024, we will have a team from the United States to come in with more advanced discussions and requests for proposals with our global supply chain with Taiwan," he added.
Huang, a retired Taiwanese Air Force officer, told reporters in the same press event that the pledged amount of money will be spent on working with potential Taiwanese partners and help boost the nation's domestic defense industry.
The US$100 million annual budget could be subject to change after the first year, depending on the capabilities of Taiwanese defense industry partners and the scale of cooperation, he added.
Huang said Northrop Grumman has long been a partner of Taiwan's Air Force by making its F-5Es that have served in the country for more than 40 years. Taiwan's E-2K Hawkeye early-warning aircraft is also a product of the American company, he said.
The US company is looking forward to potential cooperation with Taiwan in building advanced trainer jets, UAVs as well as a domestic satellite program being developed by the Taiwan Space Agency, Huang said.
Northrop Grumman is one of the prominent participants in this year's TADTE, which runs until tomorrow, after a four-year break.
Other American companies, including Lockheed Martin Corp, L3Harris Technologies Inc, Raytheon Co and BAE Systems, together with 41 small to medium-sized companies are showcasing their products at the debut USA Pavilion in the three-day show.
The last time TADTE was held was in 2019. The 2021 edition was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
RSS