Shi Fanggen, wife of Taipei Mayor Chiang Wanan, recently pointed out during the election campaign for her husband, who was striving for re-election, that the couple's connections with Huida CEO Huang Jen-Hsun allowed them to quickly move forward with the settlement of Huida's headquarters in Beishike. The connection between the two companies did not fully explain the investment promotion and follow-up cooperation, which could lead to misunderstandings that the whole case was mainly driven by individuals, which also caused controversy among all walks of life. Observing Shi Fanggen's statement, it should be said that "one leaf obscures the view and cannot see Mount Tai", which fails to fully demonstrate the foundation laid by Huida's overseas headquarters Beishike by gathering people and various units for many years.
To be fair, the key driving force behind Huida's establishment of overseas headquarters in Taiwan was the early investment promotion by the Technology Division of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (now the Technology Department), which led to the establishment of Huida's R&D center in Neihu, Taipei. After many years of discussion, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Affairs finally struck a balance between fairness and rationality in the tax system and granted Huida tax incentives, which helped Taiwan seize Huida's logistics center from Hong Kong, laying the foundation for Huida's decision to build an overseas headquarters in Taiwan.
On the 28th of last month, Shi Fangen, wife of Chiang Wanan, talked about Chiang Wanan’s political achievements that she was most impressed with on the Wang Weizhong interview program. She said that during the advancement of the Huida investment project, there were some stories that Chiang Wanan had not shared with the media. She is a technology person, so she was particularly interested in Huida’s investment case. “I saw that he (Chiang Wanan) was actually a little worried that Taipei was not the capital of Huida. What should we do if we choose? Fortunately, we actually made good friends in the United States at that time, and he was also working at Huida. Because of him, we directly contacted this person... (Jiang Wanan reminded: Huang Renxun), and then started to move forward very quickly." Shi Fanggen even said that the Huida case really made her feel very honored.
However, Shi Fanggen’s few sentences did not elaborate on the details of the existing investment promotion and formal negotiation process, which easily led outsiders to overestimate the role of connections in the entire case. In fact, the role of connections was not enough to fully explain Huida’s investment and location decisions.
As for whether Shi Fanggen's "connection theory" is too full, we need to examine it from several aspects. The first is the context of Huida's establishment of overseas headquarters in Taiwan.
Sources who have participated in the decision-making process of Huida’s investment case from beginning to end pointed out in an exclusive interview with this newspaper that Huida’s office in Neihu initially focused on operations and did not have an R&D department. Later, after passing the Big A+ plan of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Huida’s Neihu office became Huida’s first R&D center in the Asia-Pacific region.
At first, the Neihu office was small, with about a few hundred employees. One of the execution projects of the Big A+ Plan was that Huida wanted to "add 1,000 new R&D personnel." Therefore, it rented an office in Nangang as part of the manpower expansion, but the spaces in Neihu and Nangang were both leased. Huida evaluated the idea of building an overseas headquarters because it did not meet the needs, and hoped to compare the specifications of the "Silicon Valley Headquarters" and consider the convenience of employees' commuting. Huida hoped that the overseas headquarters could be located in the two norths, and the Beishike base was Huang Renxun's first choice.
Sources admitted that the Ministry of Economic Affairs was the first organization to receive Huida’s request to establish an overseas headquarters in Taiwan. When Huida asked the Ministry of Economic Affairs for assistance in finding a suitable location, it had made it clear that it must be Taipei City or New Taipei City. At that time, the Ministry of Economic Affairs recommended many locations for Huida to evaluate, and Huang Renxun finally decided on Ibeko.
Sources euphemistically stated that the Taipei City Government did not have much involvement in the investment process. It would be far-fetched to attribute the Huida overseas headquarters case to Jiang Wanan or the Taipei City Government. Huida originally intended to be in the two provinces, but understands that the election is fierce and will try to highlight its involvement as much as possible. To be fair, Huida's idea of setting up an overseas headquarters in Taiwan must be expanded based on the research and development center established with subsidies from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
On the other hand, looking back at past reports on the Huida investment case that had nothing to do with this year's Beishi election, Qiu Qiuhui, the then director of the technical department (currently the director of the Industrial Development Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs), mentioned the behind-the-scenes details of the Huida investment case in May 2023 and December 2024. He pointed out that the Huida investment case dates back to about 2020 when he returned to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and received the first For this task, the Executive Yuan instructed to negotiate with several leading global companies to set up R&D centers in Taiwan. AI was not so popular at that time, but the Ministry of Economic Affairs saw the endless potential of AI, so it targeted Huida for investment. "This was also the first time to negotiate with Huida." Due to the epidemic during this period, we could only negotiate via video conference, and it took more than a year of negotiations to finalize the implementation details.
Qiu Qiuhui pointed out at the time that Taiwan was not actually Huida's first choice for setting up an R&D center. Huida's investment case in Taiwan was once faced with a breakdown. At that time, a team from the Ministry of Economic Affairs rushed to Silicon Valley and directly briefed Huang Renxun. They argued that Taiwan had a complete ecosystem with talents, industries, and infrastructure and a trust foundation for international major partners. They successfully persuaded Huida CEO Huang Renxun to invest in Taiwan. In the end, Huida not only decided to set up an R&D center in Taiwan, but also directly increased its scale by five times.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs started the layout as early as 2021, and I believe it is also one of the important factors in promoting cooperation between the two parties. At that time, Huida's stock price was about 1/10 of what it will be in 2024. "If it were today, the whole world would be inviting Huida with money, and we wouldn't have such a good opportunity." I also believe that Huida came to Taiwan to increase R&D investment mainly because it recognized Taiwan's technological strength.
In addition to the technology department laying the foundation for the expansion of the R&D center into an overseas headquarters, Huida also plays an important role in setting up a logistics and operation center in Taiwan. In fact, in the past, Huida's logistics and operation center was located in Hong Kong and not in Taiwan. The reason is that Hong Kong's tax system is more favorable than Taiwan. Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Meihua pointed out in December 2023 that the last mile of foreign investment is "logistics". Huida's chips, servers and other components are obviously purchased in Taiwan, but they do not constitute the final export of finished products in Taiwan. This is because Taiwan's taxes are heavier than those in Hong Kong. Therefore, the government has The Ministry of Economic Affairs has been discussing with the Ministry of Finance for nearly two years to find ways to move the logistics centers of major international manufacturers such as Huida, AMD, and American Appliances to Taiwan. The Ministry of Finance has finally struck a balance between fairness and rationality in the tax system and assisted Huida Logistics and Operations Center to invest in Taiwan, which is also expected to increase Taiwan's tax revenue.
The Investment Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs also stated in 2023 that Huida, with the assistance of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Finance, chose to locate the Asia-Pacific finished product warehouse in the Farglory Air Free Trade Port Value-Added Park to meet the global demand for high-end AI chips. This not only enables Huida to purchase more diversified components in Taiwan, and its finished products are directly shipped to the global market after being assembled in Taiwan, but also helps cultivate local semiconductor and AI server manufacturers.
The news is the first draft of history. Except for disclosures from sources, the rest of the above content is quoted from reports before this year’s election, and the publication year is before 2024.
Overall, the location of Huida's overseas headquarters in Taiwan is locked in Shuangbei. The Ministry of Economic Affairs has laid the foundation for early investment and establishment of R&D centers, and coordinated the search for suitable bases. The subsequent hope of Huida's headquarters to settle in Beishike will not be in vain. It also depends on the specific contributions of Shin Kong Life Insurance and the Beishi City Government. Shin Kong Life Insurance cut off the T17 and T18 base sites. The contribution of the municipal government to the granting of rights and the completion of major investment projects cannot be erased and should not be taken for granted. The city government has also actively promoted negotiation and agreement to terminate the contract and take back the land, promote changes in urban plans and establish land rights for the project, and completed the contract with Huida this year. These are all important links in promoting the landing of the Beishike headquarters. The efforts of the city government team should also be recognized.
In summary, Shi Fanggen's talk on the show focused on Jiang Wanan's personality, leadership and coordination ability, and perseverance. His words were full of affirmation, support and appreciation for her husband. However, it is a pity that Mrs. Chiang was "blinded by a leaf, unable to see Mount Tai" and could not present the whole picture. This is by no means a denial of Jiang Wanan. However, when it comes to the Huida Investment case, we cannot just miss the forest for the trees. The decision on the Huida Investment case is the result of many years of cross-departmental efforts by many civil servants. If the Huida Investment case is blindly attributed to oneself during publicity, the effect may be counterproductive, and it may leave an exaggerated and grandiose impression in the minds of voters.
