MAYASIA BUSINESS OUTLOOK9The Indian state government announced on Monday that a subsidiary of the world's largest manufacturer of branded sports footwear, Pou Chen, will invest Rs.23.02 billion ($280.86 million) in establishing a manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu. In the fiscal year 2022, the Taiwanese footwear manufacturer for brands such as Nike, Adidas, New Balance, and Timberland produced and shipped over 272 million pairs of shoes globally, up nearly 14 percentage from the previous year. It already has manufacturing facilities in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam."We hope this is the first of many investments to come (in India)", Pou Chen Vice President George Liu said during a meeting with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin that was live streamed online. The investment, which would create approximately 20,000 jobs in Tamil Nadu over a 12-year period, comes nearly a year after Taiwanese peer Hong Fu Group agreed to invest 10 billion rupees in the southern state to manufacture footwear.According to a government agency report, Tamil Nadu accounted for 45 percent of India's footwear exports over the last five years, with many brands, including Giorgio Armani and Gucci, manufacturing or sourcing raw materials from the state. Other global names, such as Apple suppliers Foxconn, Salcomp, and Pegatron, have also increased production in Tamil Nadu and the rest of the country in order to diversify their manufacturing footprint away from China and Taiwan. Sources reported in February that Pou Chen planned to cut around 6,000 jobs at its Ho Chi Minh City plant in Vietnam due to low demand, citing two local officials. NEWSROOMNIKE & ADIDAS SHOEMAKER POU CHEN PLANS TO INVEST NEARLY $281 MILLION IN INDIAIn accordance with state media Securities Times, China's southern Guangdong province plans to launch a second phase of a semiconductor fund worth 30 billion yuan ($4.37 billion). According to Securities Times, Jin Shenghong, chairman of Yuecai Holdings, said at a semiconductor event in Guangdong on Tuesday that the fund will have a term of 17 years and will invest in auto chips and equipment for the semiconductor material. Since its inception in 2021, the fund's first phase has raised 31 billion yuan and invested in 102 companies. According to the report, 19 of these companies will seek IPOs in 2023 and 2024.China is attempting to develop self-reliance in key technologies such as semiconductors as it faces increasing pressure from the United States, which has cited national security as a reason for restricting access to key supply chains for such Chinese industries. Beijing has urged that cutting-edge technology research and development be accelerated. Another chip-focused fund is the China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, also known as the "Big Fund", which China launched in 2014. CHINA TO LAUNCH SECOND PHASE OF FUNDING FOR SEMICONDUCTOR DEVELOPMENT
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