Taiwan Apple Supplier Yageo Unveils Latest Investment In Europe

Taiwan electronics manufacturer Yageo, whose customers include Apple, on Tuesday unveiled plans to invest 205 million euros, or $225 million, in the next decade to expand its operations in North Macedonia.

The plan is the latest announced in the past several months in Europe by Yageo. The 46-year-old manufacturer’s parts are found in everything from mobile phones to tablet PCs and cars.

Founded and chaired by Taiwan billionaire Pierre Chen, Yageo said last October it would acquire Schneider Electric’s France-based Telemecanique Sensors for $729 million in cash. It also said that month it would buy Heraeus Nexensos GmbH — or Heraeus Nexensos — for approximately $78 million from Heraeus Holding.

Hanau, Germany-headquartered Heraeus Nexensos makes thin-film temperature sensors for industrial and automotive customers. The company has manufacturing sites in Germany and Malaysia.

Yageo’s greenfield investment in North Macedonia, a central Europe country with a population under two million, is expected to create 3,900 new jobs in facilities based in Technological Industrial Development Zones in Skopje and Stip.

Kemet, a U.S.-based electronics maker purchased by Yageo for $1.8 billion in 2020, already operates two plants and a research and development center in the country.

“We’ve kept long-term business partnerships with North Macedonia as mainly producing capacitors for electric vehicles,” Chen said in a statement on Tuesday. Lauding the nation’s strategic geographical position, stable monetary policy, favorable tax environment and competitive labor costs, Chen said: “North Macedonia is an ideal location for Yageo Group to continue to expand its business scale in Europe.”

Chen is worth $5.6 billion on the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List today. In addition to his shares in Yageo, Chen’s fortune partly comes from an art collection (see post here).

Taiwan has the world’s 22^nd largest economy and is home to world-ranking tech companies including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., or TSMC, which makes computer chips for Intel, and numerous Apple suppliers include Hon Hai, Pegatron, Lite-On Technology, Inventec, Catcher Technology, Largan Precision and Compeq Manufacturing.

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