MOEA inked letters of intent with 13 foreign companies at 2019 Taiwan Business Alliance Conference

　The Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan (MOEA) held the 2019 Taiwan Business Alliance Conference on October 7, 2019.  The 2019 Conference featured the theme of “Secure and Trustworthy” and focused on emerging business areas, such as 5G mobile telecommunications, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), big data, electric vehicles, and self-driving cars.  

　In the 2019 Conference, the “Economic Contribution Award for Foreign Companies in Taiwan” was presented to ten foreign companies that had been making extensive and major contributions to the economic and industrial growth and prosperity of Taiwan.  In addition, a total of 13 foreign companies signed letters of intent to invest TWD32 billion over the next three years, which is expected to create around 1,345 job vacancies in Taiwan.  

　The 13 foreign companies that signed the letters of intent include three from the Netherlands, three from Japan, and the others from Germany, the UK, France, Switzerland, Spain, the US, and one of the target countries under The New Southbound Policy, Thailand, respectively.  A breakdown of these 13 companies by category of industries shows that 4 of the 13 companies specialize in semiconductor materials and relevant equipment, 4 in renewable energy, 3 in IC design, and 2 in chemical materials.  Also, these companies stress on connecting the key technologies and talents needed in Taiwan industry.  With full capability of manufacturing process innovation and commercialization and also with complete industrial clusters, Taiwan also draws more investments in leading manufacturers of high-end materials and equipment.  

　For semiconductor equipment and materials, ASML, the world’s leading giant supplier of photolithography systems for the semiconductor industry is to set up an EUV (extreme ultraviolet lithography) development center in Taiwan to bring in advanced machines, while its German peer, SÜSS establishes a coater and developer machine assembly plant in Taiwan for the first time.  Moreover, the worldwide gas leader, Air Liquide Far Eastern Ltd. will put in more investment to the advanced technological materials center in Taiwan to cope with future development.  With its development centering on advanced ultraviolet curing coating technology, DSM-AGI Corporation will invest about TWD3 billion to Taiwan’s Changhua Coastal Industrial Park in the following two years to bring in more patents and advanced technologies.  

　In the aspect of IC design, Dialog Semiconductor, one of the top ten IC designers, will invest TWD3 billion to expand the scale of its R&D center in Taiwan in the next three years to recruit more professionals of high-end R&D and work with the first-tier Taiwanese suppliers to develop advanced manufacturing process.  Moreover, the worldwide leading semiconductor solutions supplier, STMicroelectronics will also expand its Taiwan R&D team.  

  Furthermore, in the aspect of energy transformation, the worldwide biggest sugar producer in Thailand, Mitr Phol Group, has established Formosa Sun Energy Corp. in partnership with Taiwan Solar Energy Corp., planning to put in investments in solar farms across Taiwan.  Also, Japan’s Sojitz Corporation is planning invest in the ground-mounted solar energy plants in Taiwan in 2020.  The famous Japan-based JERA Co., Inc. is also mapping out a plan of investing around TWD10 billion in Taiwan’s offshore wind power farms, solar farms, and liquefied natural gas businesses in the next three years.  (October 2019) 

/CCS