Taiwan plans U.S. industrial parks with private funding, government aid

Taipei, Oct. 16 (CNA) Taiwan's government plans to develop industrial parks in the United States based on a model in which private businesses provide the funding while the government offers assistance, with each park costing US$2 billion to US$4 billion, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Friday.

The government will work with the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association (TEEMA) to promote the initiative, the MOEA said.

The comments followed a Bloomberg report published earlier Friday that Taiwan plans to develop industrial parks in the United States to build a comprehensive supply chain supporting Nvidia Corp. and other artificial intelligence (AI) hardware makers.

In an interview with Bloomberg earlier this week, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said the proposed parks would help smaller suppliers that support Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and AI server makers such as Foxconn Technology Group establish operations in the United States.

Kung added that the government is planning more than one site in the United States, with the initiative set to start with a complex in Texas.

He also told Bloomberg that Taiwan's government would support suppliers seeking to operate in the parks by offering loan guarantees and helping them coordinate with U.S. federal and local officials on matters such as visas and land.

Asked about the report which said land has already been secured in Texas for an industrial park, the MOEA said it would provide details at a later date.

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (Foxconn) Chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉), who also chairs TEEMA's Supervisory Committee, said recently that potential locations for overseas science parks included Arizona and Texas, as well as Mexico, Poland and India.

The parks are intended to help small and medium-sized Taiwanese businesses expand into overseas markets and connect with local government agencies and companies to foster supply chain cooperation, Liu added at the time.