Taipei, Shin Kong Life at odds over compensation for Nvidia HQ land

Taipei, Oct. 13 (CNA) The Taipei City government on Monday urged Shin Kong Life Insurance Co. to accept a compensation agreement in exchange for relinquishing the surface rights of plots T17 and T18 in Beitou Shilin Science Park, where AI chip giant Nvidia Corp. wants to build its Taiwan headquarters.

The controversy over the 3.89-hectare land plots stems from the fact that Shin Kong Life won the bid for the rights in 2021.

Oct. 12: Taipei seeks to end land use contract, keep Nvidia Taiwan HQ in city

However, the company is contractually prohibited from transferring the surface rights before completing construction and obtaining building use permits for the site.

Although Shin Kong Life has said it is willing to directly transfer the surface rights to Nvidia, the city government said such a move would violate the contract, as nothing has been built on the site.

Speaking at the Taipei City Council Monday, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Shu-chuan (李四川) said Nvidia had asked the city government and Shin Kong Life to mutually terminate the surface rights agreement, so that the property would return to the city and could be transferred to Nvidia.

While Lee did not divulge the details of the city's request to Shin Kong on Monday, he said the city had previously suggested paying compensation in the range of NT$500-800 million (US$16.30-26.02 million), in addition to returning the more than NT$3 billion the company bid to acquire the land rights.

The NT$800 million figure is based on three years of estimated profits gained from the land, Lee said.

Shin Kong Life, however, has argued that it should receive NT$10.7 billion in compensation for terminating the contract, based on expected profits over a 50-year period, according to Lee.

Meanwhile, during a call with reporters, Lee was asked who would bear the compensation costs, as some city councilors have demanded the city pay no more than NT$4 billion in total -- for buying back the rights plus compensation -- with anything above that paid by Nvidia.

Lee said Nvidia prefers for the city and Shin Kong Life to first terminate their contract, so that it can deal directly with the city government. Privately, Nvidia has expressed openness to paying some form of compensation, he added.

Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said Monday that he is "confident" the city can reach an accommodation with Shin Kong Life by Oct. 24, the deadline by which Nvidia has asked the city to resolve the matter or else propose alternative sites that meet its requirements.

Shin Kong Life, for its part, said it was holding internal deliberations over its response after receiving the city government's request on Monday afternoon.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) announced his company's intention to build its Taiwan headquarters in the Beitou Shilin Science Park during a speech at the Computex Taipei expo in May of this year.