Taipei, Dec. 11 (CNA) GlobalWafers Co., a leading silicon wafer supplier in Taiwan, has decided to repatriate US$350 million for investments, taking advantage of a preferential tax status created by a newly passed law that encourages local firms to repatriate retained earnings.
In a statement released Tuesday, GlobalWafers said the plan for fund repatriation has been approved by its board of directors and is scheduled to be completed in the first half of next year.
GlobalWafers is among the major local enterprises with a worldwide production network that have responded to government incentives to invest back home in a bid to boost local industrial development and eventually the domestic economy.
The new law, which went into effect Aug. 15, allows retained earnings to return and be taxed at a lower preferential tax rate rather than at the standard corporate income tax rate.
In late November, iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the world's largest contract electronics maker, announced it has remitted NT$7 billion to Taiwan from overseas under the new law to increase its stake in subsidiary Asia Pacific Telecom Co.
For its part, GlobalWafers said it will use the funds to upgrade high-end processes, while speeding up the pace at which it develops silicon wafers for 5G devices, power electronics and electric vehicles.
GlobalWafers said it also aims to expand an existing research and development center in Taiwan and assign more funds to green energy development, which is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power consumption in silicon wafer manufacturing.
According to GlobalWafers, the company was certified as a "Green Factory" by Taiwan's Industrial Bureau in October. It said the investment in renewable energy development is expected to help the company fulfill its corporate responsibility.
Currently, GlobalWafers is the third largest silicon wafer manufacturer in the world after acquiring Singapore-based SunEdison Semiconductor Ltd. for US$683 million in late 2016.
(By Chang Chien-chung and Frances Huang)
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