Taipei seeks to end land use contract, keep Nvidia Taiwan HQ in city

Taipei, Oct. 12 (CNA) Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Shu-chuan (李四川) said Sunday that the city will send a mutual contract termination document to Shin Kong Life Insurance Monday to further discuss the surface rights of plots T17 and T18 in Beitou Shilin Science Park, where Nvidia wants to locate its new headquarters.

Lee said at a press conference that the city government favors the U.S. artificial intelligence chip giant securing its preferred site and so has asked Shin Kong Life to mutually terminate its contract with the city government.

Current difficulties with the surface rights of T17 and T18 stem from the fact that Shin Kong Life won the bid to the rights in 2021, with an agreement that prohibited the company from transferring its surface rights before completing construction and obtaining building use permits for the site.

Also read: Nvidia explores alternative Taiwan HQ sites amid surface rights impasse

Although Shin Kong Life has said it is willing to directly transfer the surface rights to Nvidia, the city government said that such a move violates the contract.

Lee noted that Shin Kong Life has had rights to the land for three years without constructing any buildings. As such, such a swift transfer would raise questions about favoring the company over other bidders in the 2021 tender.

On the other hand, the company said the city's proposed conditions for terminating the contract damages its future expected benefits and therefore shareholder's rights, involving company executives in a breach of trust.

At a press event on Thursday, Lee invited the company to "boldly" detail conditions required to remove any breach of trust concerns, to be discussed with the city.

Meanwhile, Shin Kong Life Chairman Mark Wei (魏寶生) told CNA that he has not yet received any documents from the government and is therefore uninformed about the details.

He will talk with the city after he receives and reads the documents, Wei said.

On Wednesday, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) confirmed that Nvidia requested the ministry to provide alternative sites to its planned headquarters in Taiwan.