TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s approved outbound investment more than doubled in the first five months of the year, driven largely by a NT$960 billion (US$30 billion) capital injection by TSMC, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said Monday.
The ministry said approved outbound investment reached about NT$1.14 trillion between January and May, up 133.9% from a year earlier, per CNA. Over the same period, approved investment in China fell 32.3% year-on-year to about NT$9.9 billion.
The sharp increase in outbound investment was mainly due to approval of TSMC’s injection into TSMC Global Ltd. in the British Virgin Islands. Additional contributions included investments of about NT$16 billion by Wiwynn Corporation and ASUS into subsidiaries in the US and Singapore.
Department of Investment Review Director-General Su Chi-yen (蘇琪彥) said TSMC has invested in TSMC Global multiple times in recent years. She said the funds are primarily used for financial investments such as US dollar bonds and bank deposits to improve returns and reduce foreign-exchange hedging costs.
Meanwhile, approved foreign and overseas Chinese investment into Taiwan totaled about NT$270 billion in the first five months, up 53.8% from a year earlier. The ministry approved 979 investment cases during the period.
Major inflows included a NT$138 billion investment by Singapore-based Micron Semiconductor Asia into Micron Memory Taiwan through debt conversion, as well as investments by Microsoft and Danish offshore wind developer Orsted.
Singapore was the largest source of investment, accounting for more than 63% of total inflows at about NT$170 billion. Electronic components manufacturing attracted the most investment at about NT$145 billion, followed by the financial and insurance sector at about NT$64 billion.
Chinese investment in Taiwan remained limited, with just eight approved cases worth about NT$36 million during the first five months. That represented a decline of nearly 99% from the same period last year.
