MOEA approves capital increases for local Google, Amazon units

Taipei, March 27 (CNA) The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Thursday it had approved capital increase plans for the Taiwanese subsidiaries of American tech giants Google and Amazon.

In a statement, the ministry said its Department of Investment Review had approved a NT$7 billion (US$211.3 million) investment by Google Engineering UK Holdings to Google Taiwan Ltd. for hardware and electronic information software development.

Specifically, the funds will go toward research by Google into mobile phone and wearable technology product design, the ministry said.

The department also authorized an investment of NT$2.59 billion by Amazon subsidiary A100 Row Inc. in Amazon Web Services Taiwan for personnel costs and equipment maintenance at its Taiwan data center, the MOEA said.

In terms of outgoing investments, the department allowed Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to move US$10 billion to its subsidiary TSMC Global in the British Virgin Islands.

The MOEA said TSMC was asked to make the transfer to help hedge foreign exchange risks by investing the funds in bonds and certificates of deposit.

Other investments approved by the department included a US$170 million loan-based investment by CTBC Bank to its subsidiary in the Philippines and US$300 million by AI server supplier Wiwynn Corp. to a U.S.-based subsidiary.

Wiwynn announced last month that it planned to invest US$300 million to build its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Texas.

In total, the review meeting approved two inbound investment plans, two outbound investments to China and four outbound investments to other countries, the MOEA statement said.