•Publication Date：07/20/2011
•Source： Taiwan Today
•By Aaron Hsu
Two major Japanese companies are investing in Taiwan to capitalize on the nation’s strength in the semiconductor industry, the InvesTaiwan Service Center (ITSC) said July 19.
According to the ITSC, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. has finished construction of an NT$130 million (US$4.5 million) plant in northern Taiwan’s Taoyuan County.
The plant will produce steel wires used in the making of silicon wafers. Since the wires no longer have to be imported from Japan, local manufacturers will benefit from shorter delivery schedules, the center said.
The other Japanese company that will make a major investment in Taiwan is Fujimi Inc. It supplies 90 percent of synthetic precision abrasives for silicon wafers worldwide and is the world’s third largest provider for other types of semiconductor substrate liquid abrasives.
Local regulatory authorities approved July 7 a proposal by Fujimi to build an NT$918 million plant in northern Taiwan’s Hsinchu Science Park, according to the center.
Fujimi is building the plant in Taiwan because 27 percent of its business is with Taiwanese companies, the ITSC said.
Three to four more Japanese businesses are expected to invest in Taiwan this year in the wake of the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan, according to the ITSC.
The ITSC was founded last August by the Cabinet’s global investment taskforce to promote Taiwan’s industrial advantages and business opportunities worldwide. (HZW)
