Attracted by the incentives encouraging Taiwanese enterprises to return to Taiwan for investments,including employment of more foreign laborers and tariff cut for imported equipment,Largan Precision,a leading optical lens maker in the world,has applied,ahead of others,with the government for investment.Market players noted that the investment project underscores firm grasp of orders from Apple and other clients by the company.
Largan confirmed the investment project yesterday(Dec.3),saying it is designed to meet the demand for capacity in the medium and long term.Details of the project,including investment value and factory site,have yet to be settled,though.
The program for pushing Taiwanese businesses to return to Taiwan for investments was formulated by the Council for Economic Planning and Development(CEPD)and was put into practice from November.The Ministry of Economic Affairs(MOEA)has started to accept applications by Taiwanese businesses and determine whether their projects are qualified for incentives in the fields of foreign laborers,tariff,and special loans.Shen Jung-chin,director general of the Industrial Development Bureau,MOEA,demanded that the screening work should be completed within one week after receiving the applications.
The InvesTaiwan Service Center,under the Executive Yuan(the Cabinet),reported that 20 Taiwanese businesses have signed the memorandum of understanding(MOU)for investing back in Taiwan,with total investment value of NT$30 billion.It hoped to realize the goal of boosting the investment value to NT$200 billion by the end of 2014.
Meanwhile,after solving the land problem,Eminent Luggage Corp.,a leading luggage maker,has also applied with the MOEA for securing the incentives for its plan of investing NT$800 million to build a new factory in Tainan.
Largan is the largest optical-lens supplier to Apple.Along with the booming sales of iPhone,Apple has booked great majority of Largan's capacities,prompting the latter to expand its capacities.Institutional investors estimated that Apple now accounts for 60-70%of Largan's revenue.Market players guessed that the new investment project in Taiwan is designed to fill the orders of Apple's new models.Largan is headquartered in Taichung,where it has four factories furnished with total workforce of 2,000.R&D at the headquarters focuses on plastic lenses.It also owns factories in Dongguan and Suzhou in mainland China,mainly for the production of glass lenses.
Largan raked in net profits of NT$20.19 per share in the first three quarters this year,which may rise to NT$35 for the entire year.Largan now undertakes over 90%of the orders for 8 million-pixel lenses for iPhone 5.
