Foxconn’s proposed investment in China chip conglomerate Tsinghua Unigroup likely to be blocked by Taipei: report
- The investment plan, awaiting approval from Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs, will ‘definitely not go through’, according to FT report
- The development comes amid rising technology tensions between the US and China and after Speaker Pelosi’s visit to self-ruled island
Taiwanese authorities are pressuring Apple supplier Foxconn to scrap a US$800 million investment in China’s state-backed chip conglomerate Tsinghua Unigroup, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
If the report is confirmed, it would be another example of a major deal within the semiconductor industry falling apart amid growing tensions between Beijing and Taipei.
The investment plan, which was announced last month and is awaiting approval from Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs, will “definitely not go through”, the Financial Times quoted an unnamed senior Taiwanese government official involved in national security issues as saying.
Taiwan’s investment regulator has yet to formally review the case, but according to the FT report, national security officials have already been brought in to review the case and they have said the deal needs to be blocked.
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“It is clear that now they have elevated this [investment] to the national security level, prospects have dimmed,” the report cited a person close to Foxconn as saying.