Taiwan’s Asia-Pacific Investment Co has reached initial agreement with Hewlett-Packard Co for a combined investment of $135m in a plant to manufacture disk drives in Taiwan, the Economic Daily News said. The Asia-Pacific Investment Co is a new body formed to introduce advanced technology into Taiwan and help to reduce the island’s huge trade deficit with Japan. Taiwan now needs 3.6m Winchester disk drives a year, and will require 7m units in 2000, the report said; 99% are currently imported. The Investment Co is also seeking technology transfers from French or Japanese companies to produce large screen cathode ray tubes.
