More than 200 people attended a seminar here Tuesday (July 21) hosted by Taiwan's two exchanges. The program included a talk from Array Networks, a Silicon Valley software company that in May became the first foreign firm to list in Taiwan as well as representatives of Taiwan's Executive Yuan and its stock exchanges.

As many as ten electronics companies are working with underwriters on a possible listing in Taiwan, according to Daung-Yen Lu, chairman of GreTai Securities Market, Taiwan's over-the-counter stock market. A total of 17 foreign companies are preparing to list in Taiwan which opened its markets to foreign based companies a year ago.

As many as 370 of the 446 companies listed on Taiwan's main exchange are considered high tech firms, about a quarter of them involved in semiconductors. Listing in Taiwan is significantly less expensive than on the Nasdaq and price/earnings ratios can be as high as those in exchanges in Korea, Hong Kong or Singapore, Lu said.

In a video interview, Michael Zhao, chief executive of Array (Milpitas, Calif.), said GreTai was the best alternative for his company given its expanding customer base in China and its ties to the island nation. Array's investors include the Industrial Technology Research Institute, an R&D arm of the Taiwan government, and HQ Asia Pacific.

By: DocMemory
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