Twelve foreign enterprises signed investment letters of intent (LOI) worth an estimated NT$46 billion (US$1.43 billion) at an event held by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) at Semicon Taiwan exhibition yesterday.
Of the 12 firms, four are Japanese, three are American, three are European and two are from other regions, the ministry said.
The businesses are engaged in various fields including IC design, IC manufacturing, semiconductor equipment and materials, biotech, real estate and logistics, the ministry said.
Photo courtesy of Ministry of Economic Affairs
The Taiwan Business Alliance Conference, an annual event held by the ministry to attract foreign investors, was held alongside the Semicon Taiwan trade show for the first time this year in the expectation that more foreign enterprises could see the advantage of investing in Taiwan in the boom of artificial intelligence (AI) applications, the ministry said.
Semiconductor-related companies include the US-based Applied Materials Inc and Micron Technology Inc; NXP Semiconductors NV of the Netherlands; Germany's Carl Zeiss Co; as well as Taiwan Fujibo Precision Materials Co (台灣富士紡精密材料), Taiwan Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo Co (台灣田中貴金屬) and Central Glass Co from Japan.
Addressing the event, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said that despite being about the size of the Netherlands and Maryland in the US, Taiwan has "the world's most comprehensive industrial cluster in the semiconductor sector."
Photo: Liao Chia-ning, Taipei Times
This showed Taiwan's "critical position in the supply chain," Kuo added.
Quoting Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), Kuo said Taiwan is at the center of the AI revolution.
He added that Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices Inc's decision to set up research centers in Taiwan represented "a win-win strategy."
A ministry official told the media on the sidelines of the event that the ministry expects investment from the 12 companies to total around NT$46 billion over the next three years.
Asked whether the companies signing LOIs have always invested the pledged amount, the official said this is the case 80 to 90 percent of the time.
Other companies signing the LOI included JRE Business Development Taiwan Inc (台灣捷爾東事業開發) and Switzerland's SHL Medical.
MARKET LEADERSHIP: Investors are flocking to Nvidia, drawn by the company’s long-term fundamntals, dominant position in the AI sector, and pricing and margin power Two years after Nvidia Corp made history by becoming the first chipmaker to achieve a US$1 trillion market capitalization, an even more remarkable milestone is within its grasp: becoming the first company to reach US$4 trillion. After the emergence of China’s DeepSeek (深度求索) sent the stock plunging earlier this year and stoked concerns that outlays on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure were set to slow, Nvidia shares have rallied back to a record. The company’s biggest customers remain full steam ahead on spending, much of which is flowing to its computing systems. Microsoft Corp, Meta Platforms Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc are
INVESTOR RESILIENCE? An analyst said that despite near-term pressures, foreign investors tend to view NT dollar strength as a positive signal for valuation multiples Morgan Stanley has flagged a potential 10 percent revenue decline for Taiwan’s tech hardware sector this year, as a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar begins to dent the earnings power of major exporters. In what appears to be the first such warning from a major foreign brokerage, the US investment bank said the currency’s strength — fueled by foreign capital inflows and expectations of US interest rate cuts — is compressing profit margins for manufacturers with heavy exposure to US dollar-denominated revenues. The local currency has surged about 10 percent against the greenback over the past quarter and yesterday breached
The US overtaking China as Taiwan’s top export destination could boost industrial development and wage growth, given the US is a high-income economy, an economist said yesterday. However, Taiwan still needs to diversify its export markets due to the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump’s administration, said Chiou Jiunn-rong (邱俊榮), an economics professor at National Central University. Taiwan’s exports soared to a record US$51.74 billion last month, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products and continued orders, with information and communication technology (ICT) and audio/video products leading all sectors. The US reclaimed its position as Taiwan’s top export market, accounting for
MARKET FACTORS: Navitas Semiconductor Inc said that Powerchip is to take over from TSMC as its supplier of high-voltage gallium nitride chips Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday in a statement said that it would phase out its compound semiconductor gallium nitride (GaN) business over the next two years, citing market dynamics. The decision would not affect its financial targets announced previously, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker said. “We are working closely with our customers to ensure a smooth transition and remain committed to meeting their needs during this period,” it said. “Our focus continues to be on delivering sustained value to our partners and the market.” TSMC’s latest move came unexpectedly, as the chipmaker had said in its annual report that it has
RSS