Taiwan’s entity list is to be updated following a review by a cross-ministerial committee in early April to ensure the list is in line with international export sanctions on Russia, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), which also promised more subsidies for the country’s machinery industry which has been negatively impacted by the restrictions.
The US recently announced its largest package of sanctions against Russia, totaling 500 individuals and entities. The European Union also issued its 13th sanctions package last week, which not only increases the number of sanctioned entities but also prohibits the export of key components for drones to Russia.
Taiwan’s entity list has so far banned 1,900 military-related Russian entities from receiving Taiwanese-made high-tech goods, according to the International Trade Administration.
Photo: CNA
A MOEA official said the ministry continues to reference the practices of allied countries and undertake rolling reviews of the entity list.
The recently expanded sanctions issued by the US and the EU target machine tools, automobiles and drone components, but the adjustment is expected to have little impact on Taiwanese manufacturers, the official said.
The official explained that Taiwan’s supply chain is only involved in some of the expanded targeted industries, adding that Taiwan has also been closely observing international sanctions.
Early this month, the ministry added 77 items to the list of machine tools restricted from being exported to Russia and Belarus, which is set to take effect on March 8.
The official acknowledged that the export restrictions have a negative impact on Taiwan’s manufacturers of machine tools, machinery and machine components, as Taiwan’s export to Russia fell 35.1 percent from 2021 to US$850 million in 2022 and to US$790 million last year. Exports to Russia last month totaled US $62.51 million, representing a further year-on-year decrease of 12.5 percent.
Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) chairman Larry Wei (魏燦文) on Tuesday said the restrictions on exporting machine tools to Russia and Belarus have benefited Chinese manufacturers, as exports of Chinese machine tools to Russia increased 60 percent last year, compared to a year earlier.
"This is giving away the market to China for free," Wei said, lamenting the losses caused by political factors and calling on the government to provide subsidies or other support measures.
Taiwan’s machinery industry has also been battered by other factors including the exchange rate of the New Taiwan dollar to the US dollar, the TAMI head said.
The Japanese yen has depreciated 12 percent recently against the greenback, making the NT dollar relatively strong and affecting the industry’s competitiveness in overseas markets, Wei said, hoping the rate will remain at NT$32 against the US dollar.
An official with the Industrial Development Administration (IDA) told CNA that the MOEA has earmarked NT$300 million for the machine tool industry to focus on high-value and de-carbonized operations.
About NT$200 million will introduce smart machinery, and another NT$100 million be used to develop domestically made high-value machine tool controllers and product category rules — which provide product category-specific guidance to assess the environmental impact of a product’s life cycle and conduct carbon footprint calculations, the IDA official said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday obtained the government’s approval to inject an additional US$7.5 billion into its US subsidiary, the Department of Investment Review said in a statement. The department approved TSMC’s application of investing in TSMC Arizona Corp, which is engaged in the manufacturing, sales, testing and design of IC and other semiconductor devices, it said. The latest capital injection follows a US$5 billion investment for TSMC Arizona approved in June. The chipmaker has broken ground on two advanced fabs in Arizona with aggregated investments approved by the department totaling US$24 billion thus far. According to TSMC, the first Arizona
The lethal hack of Hezbollah’s Asian-branded pagers and walkie-talkies has sparked an intense search for the devices’ path, revealing a murky market for older technologies where buyers might have few assurances about what they are getting. While supply chains and distribution channels for higher-margin and newer products are tightly managed, that is not the case for older electronics from Asia where counterfeiting, surplus inventories and complex contract manufacturing deals can sometimes make it impossible to identify the source of a product, analysts and consultants say. The response from the companies at the center of the booby-trapped gadgets that killed 37
FRIENDLY TAKEOVER: While Qualcomm Inc’s proposal to buy some or all of Intel raises the prospect of other competitors, Broadcom Inc is staying on the sidelines Qualcomm Inc has approached Intel Corp to discuss a potential acquisition of the struggling chipmaker, people with knowledge of the matter said, raising the prospect of one of the biggest-ever merger and acquisition deals. California-based Qualcomm proposed a friendly takeover for Intel in recent days, said the sources, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. The proposal is for all of the chipmaker, although Qualcomm has not ruled out buying some parts of Intel and selling off others. It is uncertain whether the initial approach would lead to an agreement and any deal is likely to come under close antitrust scrutiny
SECURITY CONCERNS: The proposed ban on Chinese autonomous vehicle software and hardware would go into effect with the 2027 and 2030 model years respectively The US Department of Commerce today is expected to propose prohibiting Chinese software and hardware in connected and autonomous vehicles on US roads due to national security concerns, two sources said. US President Joe Biden’s administration has raised concerns about the collection of data by Chinese companies on US drivers and infrastructure as well as the potential foreign manipulation of vehicles connected to the Internet and navigation systems. The proposed regulation would ban the import and sale of vehicles from China with key communications or automated driving system software or hardware, said the two sources, who declined to be identified because the