The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that Taiwan's national security officials want to persuade Apple Inc's supplier Foxconn to unwind an $800 million investment in Chinese chipmaker Tsinghua Unigroup.
The deal will definitely not go through, according to the report, citing a senior Taiwanese government official who is involved in national security issues. https: on.ft. com 3 A 8 mzuM Taiwan, the world's largest contract electronics maker, has become increasingly cautious about China's ambition to boost its semiconductor sector. It has proposed new laws to prevent China from stealing its chip technology, amid rising concerns in Taipei that Beijing is stepping up its economic espionage.
The island's government prohibits companies from building their most advanced foundries in China to ensure they do not offshore their best technology.
Taiwan is facing mounting pressure from China, which considers the democratically governed island its own territory.
The FT reported on Wednesday that Taiwan's cabinet commission has yet to formally review the investments and that officials from the National Security Council and the Mainland Affairs Council believe the deal needs to be blocked, according to an unnamed person who was briefed on the matter.
One person close to the company said the deal looks more difficult to pass through with growing tensions in the Taiwan Strait and that they have elevated this to the national security level and the prospects are getting dimmed.
Tensions have escalated in the Taiwan Strait after U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the Chinese self-ruled island last week, a move that China condemned as a threat to peace and stability.
A subsidiary of Foxconn invested $798 million in the chip conglomerate Tsinghua Unigroup last month, making it a shareholder in the embattled chip conglomerate.