The Ministry of Economic Affairs on Thursday said it had approved capital increase plans for the Taiwanese subsidiaries of US tech giants Google and Amazon.
The Department of Investment Review approved a NT$7 billion (US$211.5 million) investment by Google Engineering UK Holdings in Google Taiwan Ltd for hardware and electronic information software development, the ministry said in a statement.
The funds would go toward research into mobile phones and wearable technology product design, it added.
Photo: Bloomberg
The department also authorized an investment of NT$2.59 billion by Amazon subsidiary A100 Row Inc in Amazon Web Services Taiwan for its data center’s personnel costs and equipment, the ministry said.
OUTBOUND INVESTMENTS
In terms of outbound investments, the department approved Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) plan to inject an additional US$10 billion into its subsidiary TSMC Global, which is based in the British Virgin Islands, it said.
TSMC aims to use the money to help hedge foreign exchange risks by investing the money in bonds and certificates of deposit, the ministry added.
Other investments approved by the department included a US$170 million loan-based investment by CTBC Bank (中信銀行) in its subsidiary in the Philippines and US$300 million by artificial intelligence server supplier Wiwynn Corp (緯穎) in a US-based subsidiary.
Wiwynn last month said it planned to invest US$300 million to build its first US manufacturing facility in Texas.
JAPANESE ACQUISITION
Global Brands Manufacture Ltd (精成科技), a supplier of plastic circuit boards (PCB), received the department’s approval for its acquisition of Japanese PCB manufacturer Lincstech Co for ￥28.16 billion, allowing the Taiwanese company to build a stronger presence in the high-end PCB board market.
The department also gave the go-ahead to two China-bound investments, including a US$65 million capital injection by PMI Group (銀泰科技) into its Chinese subsidiary to repay debts.
Automotive lighting supplier TYC Brother Industrial Co (堤維西) was also granted approval to invest 310 million yuan to acquire the 50 percent share of its joint venture partner. TYC would gain full control of the car light manufacturing venture following the investment.
Additional reporting by Lisa Wang
‘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
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic gas stations are to fall NT$0.2 and NT$0.1 per liter respectively this week, even though international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices continued rising last week, as the US Energy Information Administration reported a larger-than-expected drop in US commercial crude oil inventories, CPC said in a statement. Based on the company’s floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil rose 2.38 percent last week from a week earlier, it said. News that US President Donald Trump plans a “secondary
RSS