President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of March 21 with President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Splinter of Applied Materials, Inc. of the United States. During the meeting, the president reiterated Taiwan's intention to become a global innovation center and an Asia-Pacific regional economic and trade hub.
In remarks, the president stated that Applied Materials is the world's leader in semiconductor and flat panel display equipment technology, and that the company has enormous influence in the high-tech industry. Last year, he said, Applied Materials for the first time in Taiwan held the "Applied Materials Supplier Forum Taiwan," and announced plans to raise its local content ratio. The company last year sourced 40% of its components locally, and aims to increase this percentage to 75% by 2015, which would push the value of local procurements up to NT$23.1 billion, the president noted.
The president remarked that Applied Materials has taken a number of steps to get in position to respond in a timely manner to the needs of Asia's display industry. In March 2010 it established the Tainan Manufacturing Center in southern Taiwan, and on March 22 this year the company will launch its Tainan Display Lab. This facility was set up with support from the "Multinational Innovative R&D Centers in Taiwan Program," an initiative promoted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs to encourage multinational companies to establish R&D centers in Taiwan, the president said. In positioning itself to produce next-generation display equipment, Applied Materials will be expanding its investments in Taiwan, winning stronger customer loyalty in Taiwan, and enhancing its partnerships with suppliers of key components, the president added.
President Ma also had positive comments about the Memorandum of Understanding for Applied Materials Research Programs inked between Applied Materials and National Taiwan University, National Cheng Kung University, National Tsing Hua University, and National Chiao Tung University. These agreements focus on the training of human resources, technical exchange, and collaborative research projects. Many outstanding highly trained professionals have been trained as a result, he said.
President Ma reiterated that Taiwan is advantageously located in the heart of East Asia. Travel time from Taiwan's airports and seaports to other major cities in the region is the shortest, with flights averaging just four hours and shipping times on average 53 hours. Six years ago when he was first running for the presidency, the president said, his campaign platform called for building Taiwan into a global innovation center and an Asia-Pacific regional economic and trade hub. He also proposed allowing direct flights between downtown airports in Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and mainland China, and in March of last year this campaign plank was achieved, the president noted, adding that convenient transportation further highlights Taiwan's value as a geographic hub in Asia.
The meeting between Mr. Splinter and President Ma was also attended by National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General John C. C. Deng (鄧振中) and Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Woody Tyzz-Jiun Duh (杜紫軍).