The conglomerate, also known as Hon Hai Group, signed a letter of intent with the Export Processing Zone Administration under the Ministry of Economic Affairs in June of last year to build two R&D buildings in the Kaohsiung Software Park. The eight-story and 12-story buildings will be located on a 1.85 hectare plot of land in the northern section of the park.
Planned investment in the project amounts to NT$1.9 billion (US$59.77 million). It is expected to create about 3,000 engineering jobs within the next five years.
The project’s timetable has been repeatedly revised in recent months due to several factors, including the devastating flooding caused by Typhoon Morakot when it swept across southern Taiwan last August, the holding of the ruling Kuomintang’s chairmanship election, as well as changes to the plan made by the group’s chairman, Terry Gou.
However, news sources revealed that Foxconn plans anew to set up a cloud computing data center at its new base and to cooperate with U.S.-based International Business Machines Corp. in developing a cloud computing platform.
Foxconn’s core member, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd., is the world’s largest contract manufacturing service company on information communication technology devices.
According to Foxconn’s initial plan, its new base of operations in the Kaohsiung Software Park will serve as its digital content services software research and development headquarters.
The investment project will primarily focus on four major fields, including development of high-tech software that integrates advanced sensor and wireless-network technology for use in all types of surveillance operations, establishment of a platform for Linux-based operating systems and applied software, development of e-commerce operation platforms, as well as embedded wireless-communication software.
The Executive Yuan last week passed a cloud computing promotion plan proposed by the MOEA’s Department of Industrial Technology. The plan is expected to help materialize hundreds of billions of NT dollars in investment within the next five years.
Under the plan, the Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan and the Institute for Information Industry will establish a government-run cloud computing center. At the same time, cloud computing operations will be eligible for government subsidies.
Foxconn can therefore apply for financial assistance for its cloud computing center at its new southern Taiwan R&D headquarters. The establishment of the headquarters is also significant symbolically in terms of drawing other industry players to set up shop in the area.
The Export Processing Zone Administration said that Foxconn’s investment has had a strong magnetic effect. Besides accelerating the clustering of software technology sector firms in southern Taiwan, the planned project will also attract more investment from internationally renowned companies as well as industry leaders.
In addition, members of the business sector, ranging from hotel and restaurant operators to real estate and tourism enterprises, are hopeful that Foxconn’s new investment will help boost purchasing power and increase job opportunities in the region. (SB)