With contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Co. (TSMC) investing huge amounts on building advanced fabs in the United States and Japan, approved outbound investment from Taiwanese firms hit a new high in 2024, the Department of Investment Review under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said yesterday.
The department approved about US$44.93 billion in outbound investment in 2024, soaring 90.57 percent from a year earlier, smashing the previous record of US$23.58 billion in 2023.
The MOEA said the surge largely came after TSMC secured approval to raise its investment in the United States and Japan by US$12.5 billion and US$52.62 billion, respectively, last year.
Photo: Taipei Times
In addition, semiconductor distributor WT Microelectronics Co. also obtained approval to spend US $3.98 billion acquiring Canadian-based Future Electronics Inc., the authorities said.
In 2024, the department approved US$8.72 billion in investments in countries under the government’s the New Southbound Policy, up 57.42 percent from a year earlier, with Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia the main destinations.
The New Southbound Policy, introduced in 2016, aims to enhance trade and exchanges between Taiwan and 18 countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia, as well as Australia and New Zealand, in a bid to reduce Taiwan’s dependence on China.
As for China-bound investment the approved amount totaled US$3.65 billion in 2024, up 20.33 percent from a year earlier, due to an increase in acquisitions and mergers by Taiwanese investors, the department said.
In 2024, Taiwan approved US$7.86 billion in direct foreign investments, down 30.18 percent from a year earlier due to a relatively high comparison base in 2023, despite a large amount of investment from multinational firms such as semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding N.V. and software giant Microsoft Corp.
Approved inbound investment from China jumped 901.04 percent from a year earlier to US$297 million in 2024 as China-owned Cloud Network Technology Singapore Pte Ltd. was given approval to raise investment in its branch in Taiwan by NT$9 billion (US$273 million).
Since Taiwan lifted a ban on Chinese investment in June 2009, the government has approved about US$2.89 billion in funds from China, according to the department.
ADVANCED: Previously, Taiwanese chip companies were restricted from building overseas fabs with technology less than two generations behind domestic factories Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp, would no longer be restricted from investing in next-generation 2-nanometer chip production in the US, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. However, the ministry added that the world’s biggest contract chipmaker would not be making any reckless decisions, given the weight of its up to US$30 billion investment. To safeguard Taiwan’s chip technology advantages, the government has barred local chipmakers from making chips using more advanced technologies at their overseas factories, in China particularly. Chipmakers were previously only allowed to produce chips using less advanced technologies, specifically
The New Taiwan dollar is on the verge of overtaking the yuan as Asia’s best carry-trade target given its lower risk of interest-rate and currency volatility. A strategy of borrowing the New Taiwan dollar to invest in higher-yielding alternatives has generated the second-highest return over the past month among Asian currencies behind the yuan, based on the Sharpe ratio that measures risk-adjusted relative returns. The New Taiwan dollar may soon replace its Chinese peer as the region’s favored carry trade tool, analysts say, citing Beijing’s efforts to support the yuan that can create wild swings in borrowing costs. In contrast,
TARIFF SURGE: The strong performance could be attributed to the growing artificial intelligence device market and mass orders ahead of potential US tariffs, analysts said The combined revenue of companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the Taipei Exchange for the whole of last year totaled NT$44.66 trillion (US$1.35 trillion), up 12.8 percent year-on-year and hit a record high, data compiled by investment consulting firm CMoney showed on Saturday. The result came after listed firms reported a 23.92 percent annual increase in combined revenue for last month at NT$4.1 trillion, the second-highest for the month of December on record, and posted a 15.63 percent rise in combined revenue for the December quarter at NT$12.25 billion, the highest quarterly figure ever, the data showed. Analysts attributed the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) quarterly sales topped estimates, reinforcing investor hopes that the torrid pace of artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending would extend into this year. The go-to chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported a 39 percent rise in December-quarter revenue to NT$868.5 billion (US$26.35 billion), based on calculations from monthly disclosures. That compared with an average estimate of NT$854.7 billion. The strong showing from Taiwan’s largest company bolsters expectations that big tech companies from Alphabet Inc to Microsoft Corp would continue to build and upgrade datacenters at a rapid clip to propel AI development. Growth accelerated for
RSS