Taiwan will asses the feasibility of lifting a ban on investments by China-based firms in the local IC design industry, according to officials from Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) and Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC).
The MOEA will evaluate whether law changes are necessary to meet the needs of individual companies, said economics minister John Deng. Any changes to the current laws, nevertheless, will have to be in accordance with Taiwan's interests, Deng indicated.
FSC chairman Tseng Ming-chung also noted that the laws related to hostile takeovers will be reviewed and modified if necessary.
The officials were responding to Tsinghua Unigroup chairman Zhao Weiguo's recent call on the Taiwan government to open the country's IC design industry to China capital and encourage cooperation between China and Taiwan in the IC design sector. He openly expressed an interest in investing in MediaTek.
MediaTek echoed Zhao's remarks saying the company is willing to open its door and join forces with China-based peers to explore new opportunities for growth.
China is allowed to make investments in several IC industry sectors in Taiwan, but not yet the IC design sector.