16 Chinese tech firms investigated for illegally setting up offices in Taiwan

Taipei, Aug. 7 (CNA) The Ministry of Justice's Investigation Bureau said Thursday that 16 Chinese tech companies are being investigated for illegally setting up offices in Taiwan and hiring local staff without authorization.

More than 300 investigators were dispatched from July 15 to Aug. 6 to search 70 locations in Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, during which 120 people involved with the companies were summoned for questioning, the bureau said in a news release.

The high-tech industry is the lifeblood of Taiwan's economy, and talent in related sectors has been a prime target for Chinese companies, it explained.

The 16 alleged Chinese firms are accused of faking their business registration, posing either as branch offices of overseas firms with foreign or Taiwanese investment capital, as well as hiring personnel without authorization.

They include Lontium Semiconductor Corp., a fabless design house based in Hefei, China's Anhui province, Shanghai-based Cista Limited, Novosense Microelectronics Co., Chipone Technology (Beijing) Co. and Huntkey Group.

Citing an example, the bureau said Cista, which focuses on integrated circuit chip development, is suspected of using a Hong Kong-based company as a front to disguise itself as foreign company and set up an office in Taiwan, where it recruited semiconductor talent.

Huntkey, one of the largest IT companies in China, is suspected of setting up a branch office in Taiwan under the guise of being based in Hong Kong -- and illegally recruiting PC power supply engineers in Taiwan, it added.

Such actions have seriously undermined the competitiveness of Taiwan's high-tech industry, the bureau said, noting that it will continue to crackdown on Chinese firms illegally operating in the country.