LOIs Signed in Past 4 Years for Japanese Investments in Taiwan See Result

With steadily growing economic cooperation between Taiwan and China making the island increasingly attractive for Japanese investors as an overseas investment destination, as many as 20 letters of intent (LOIs) signed by Japanese firms for investments in Taiwan in the past four years all have been fulfilled, according to statistics compiled by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

The MOEA said that since 2010 Taiwan has inked 86 LOIs with global foreign investors, with 85%, including the abovementioned 20, already seeing result.

A sign that Taiwan is highly regarded by Japanese firms as an ideal investment destination is that, over the past three years, the TIPO (Taiwan Japan Industrial Collaboration Promotion Office) has attracted 87 investments from Japan valued at some NT$16.945 billion (US$564.8 million).

The main factor motivating Japanese investors to focus on Taiwan is the ECFA (Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement) signed with China, said Toru Takuchi, president of Kintetsu World Express (Taiwan), Inc. at the opening ceremony held in late June for its international logistics center in Taoyuan, northern Taiwan. The logistics center, said the president, will help his company take advantage of ECFA, which has facilitated cross-strait trade to some extent since coming into effect in 2010, to better explore the Chinese market.

Japanese investments in Taiwan are mostly made by large enterprises focusing on software, semiconductor, digital content and pharmaceutical industries. So MOEA officials said the government will step up promoting cooperation between Taiwan and Japan's small and medium-sized firms from other sectors.

The MOEA will hold a matchmaking event between Taiwanese and Japanese companies on July 15 in Taiwan, with 21 Japanese firms from the ICT (information and communication technology), electronics and photovoltaic industries having already signed on. (SC)

LOIs Signed by Japanese Firms for Investments in Taiwan in 2014
Signing Company (business scope)	Project
Fujimori Kogyo Co., Ltd. (chemical and packaging materials)	To set up a precision coating plant for NT$1.76 Bn.
NEC Lighting (lightings)	To set up a joint venture of lighting with a local partner
Nicca Chemical Co., Ltd. (chemicals)	To set up an R&D headquarters across Asia in Taoyuan County
O-M Ltd. (machine tools)	To set up production line of CNC vertical turning centers
Rakuten Inc. (e-commerce and Internet)	To expand local operations
Zensho Co., Ltd. (food services)	To set up Japanese restaurants

Source: Ministry of Economic Affairs