PRESIDENT PAINTS ROSY PICTURE OF TAIWAN'S ECONOMY.

TAOYUAN, northern Taiwan, July 1 Asia Pulse - President Chen Shui-bian painted a rosy picture of Taiwan's economy Wednesday, saying that it has been dynamically expanding, with the annual growth expected to top 5.4 percent for 2004.

Addressing a ceremony marking the inauguration of Inotera Semiconductor -- a joint venture between Germany's semiconductor giant Infineon Technologies AE and Taiwan's Nanya Technology Corp. (TAIEX:2408) -- Chen noted that Taiwan's economic growth surged to a whopping 6.28 percent in the first quarter of this year, marking the best quarterly performance in five years.

Chen first expressed his appreciation toward the Formosa Plastics Group (FPG), which is Nanya Technology's parent company, for inviting him to the ceremony to jointly witness the founding of the largest investment project in Taiwan in five years, which will act as a boost for Taiwan's high-technology industry.

He said that the Infineon-Nanya joint venture is inspiring, as it has been only 18 months since Dec. 2, 2002, when he witnessed a ground-breaking ceremony for the plant, which will produce 12-inch silicon wafers in Taoyuan, northern Taiwan.

Looking back, Chen said, Taiwan's economy was in the doldrums in late 2002 when Infineon and Nanya Technology were talking about the joint venture. Undaunted by the situation, he said, the Infineon and Nanya managements both decided to go ahead with the plan, demonstrating their forward-looking vision. Time, he went on, has proved that they were right.

The US$2.2 billion joint venture also underlines the faith of Infineon and the FPG in Taiwan's economic prospects and investment climate, Chen said.

Inotera Semiconductor is expected to start commercial production of DRAM (dynamic random access memory) immediately, using the cutting-edge 0.11-micron manufacturing technology, Chen said, adding that in the first stage, the plant's monthly production capacity is expected to reach 24,000 wafers by the end of this year and a full monthly capacity of 54,000 wafers by the end of 2005.