The College of Management at Fu Jen Catholic University in Taipei, and the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment (VCC) at Columbia University in New York, are releasing the first annual report on leading Taiwanese multinationals today, indicating that the top Taiwanese multinationals are maintaining their growth momentum in their investment abroad despite the global crisis and a drop in the overall flows of Taiwanese foreign direct investment (FDI). The research for this report was conducted in 2011 and covers the period 2007 to 2009.
The global financial crisis had a severe negative impact on Taiwan‘s outward investment in 2009. According to UNCTAD, the FDI outflows of Taiwan dropped dramatically from USD 10.29 billion in 2008 to USD 5.87 billion in 20092. However, 15 of the top 20 Taiwanese multinationals still increased their overseas assets in 2009 (table 3 below).
The top 20 Taiwanese multinationals ranked in table 1 below by their foreign assets had around USD 76 billion in overseas assets, USD 221 billion in foreign sales and employed nearly 1.1 million persons abroad in 2009 ( see annex table 1 for details other than assets). The total foreign assets of the 20 multinationals were equivalent to more than 40% of Taiwan‘s outward FDI stock of around USD 180 billion in 2009. Collectively, the top 20 had 1,164 foreign affiliates in 42 economies. The most prominent industry on the list is electrical and electronic equipment manufacturing.