Ten foreign companies have signed letters with the Ministry of Economic Affairs, confirming their intention to invest nearly NT$90 billion (US$2.86 billion) between them in Taiwan over the next three years.
The agreements were signed at an annual global investment forum in Taipei and were announced on Monday by Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花).
The companies include French industrial gas firm Air Liquide SA; Lam Research Corp, a US manufacturer of equipment used to make semiconductors; and Nitto Denko Corp, a Japanese manufacturer of insulating materials, Wang said.
Photo: CNA
US industrial gas company Air Products and Chemicals Inc, and Air Liquide Far Eastern Ltd (亞東工業氣體), a joint venture established in 1987 by Air Liquide and Far Eastern Group (遠東集團), plan to expand their operations in Taiwan, Wang said.
Japanese firm Fujifilm Electronic Materials Co plans to build a factory for advanced manufacturing, Lam Research is to build a research and development (R&D) center for high-end technologies, and British semiconductor company IQE PLC plans to expand its R&D facility in Hsinchu, she said.
The others intending to expand their presence in Taiwan are South Korean e-commerce company Coupang Inc, Japanese retailer Muji and Zacros, Japan’s leading manufacturer of single-use bags, the ministry said.
The letters represent concrete action by the 10 companies, showing their confidence in Taiwan’s investment environment, Wang said.
Over the past three years, international companies have invested more than US$3.3 billion in Taiwan, she said.
Taiwan’s technology protection rules prohibits Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) from producing 2-nanometer chips abroad, so the company must keep its most cutting-edge technology at home, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks in response to concerns that TSMC might be forced to produce advanced 2-nanometer chips at its fabs in Arizona ahead of schedule after former US president Donald Trump was re-elected as the next US president on Tuesday. “Since Taiwan has related regulations to protect its own technologies, TSMC cannot produce 2-nanometer chips overseas currently,” Kuo said at a meeting of the legislature’s
TECH WAR CONTINUES: The suspension of TSMC AI chips and GPUs would be a heavy blow to China’s chip designers and would affect its competitive edge Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is reportedly to halt supply of artificial intelligence (AI) chips and graphics processing units (GPUs) made on 7-nanometer or more advanced process technologies from next week in order to comply with US Department of Commerce rules. TSMC has sent e-mails to its Chinese AI customers, informing them about the suspension starting on Monday, Chinese online news outlet Ijiwei.com (愛集微) reported yesterday. The US Department of Commerce has not formally unveiled further semiconductor measures against China yet. “TSMC does not comment on market rumors. TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are
FLEXIBLE: Taiwan can develop its own ground station equipment, and has highly competitive manufacturers and suppliers with diversified production, the MOEA said The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday disputed reports that suppliers to US-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) had been asked to move production out of Taiwan. Reuters had reported on Tuesday last week that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan given geopolitical risks and that at least one Taiwanese supplier had been pushed to relocate production to Vietnam. SpaceX’s requests place a renewed focus on the contentious relationship Musk has had with Taiwan, especially after he said last year that Taiwan is an “integral part” of China, sparking sharp criticism from Taiwanese authorities. The ministry said
US President Joe Biden’s administration is racing to complete CHIPS and Science Act agreements with companies such as Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co, aiming to shore up one of its signature initiatives before US president-elect Donald Trump enters the White House. The US Department of Commerce has allocated more than 90 percent of the US$39 billion in grants under the act, a landmark law enacted in 2022 designed to rebuild the domestic chip industry. However, the agency has only announced one binding agreement so far. The next two months would prove critical for more than 20 companies still in the process