The project was announced jointly by Terry Gou, chairman of Hon Hai, and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan after both met for over an hour at Hon Hai's headquarters in Tucheng, Taipei County.

In a briefing held after the meeting, Gou lauded the Liu Cabinet for making Taiwan more open to the international business community, and said his multinational conglomerate will increase its presence in Taiwan to take advantage of the government's openness policy.

There were three main areas in the investment package Gou announced yesterday: 1. expanding and strengthening Hon Hai's Taiwan headquarters; 2. expediting Hon Hai's overseas units to get listed on the island; and 3. building a Hon Hai Asia-Pacific operations center in Kaohsiung.

The most eye-catching of the three is definitely the first, where Gou promised to expand its global headquarters in Taiwan and have it invest in the following industries: optoelectronics, medical equipment, digital content, precision instruments and automation. The project is expected to create 30,000 jobs, of which 24,000 will be hired locally.

To have an ideal living environment for employees and their families, Hon Hai plans to spend NT$100 billion to build what Gou called a "digital environmental technological city" -- a living space big enough to accommodate 240,000 people, equipped with wireless Internet access, intelligent transportation systems and digitized medical provision, all encompassed in a land that stresses environmental sustainability.

As for where the digital city will be located, Gou kept a tight lip. "If I tell you now, that piece of land will see a rise in property value starting tomorrow," he said.

Gou, however, did say the location of the city will depend on measures local governments provide, citing as an example Alabama's offering of land at just US$1 for Mercedes-Benz, and New York State's offering of low-interest financing to AMD.

"The choice of location is heavily dependent on how local resources are distributed and how enthusiastic local governments are in accommodating us," Gou said, adding his company will submit a proposal to the Cabinet within six months.

As for having overseas units listed in Taiwan, Gou did not identify the companies likely to seek a flotation on the island. But Hon Hai Precision officials have said Foxconn International, which makes phones for Nokia Corp. and Motorola Inc., is planning to list in Taiwan.

Foxconn International went public in Hong Kong in February 2005. It would be the most high profile share offering in Taiwan since late 2003.

Finally, Hon Hai will move its largest transshipment facility to the southern Taiwan port of Kaohsiung, Gou said, adding that the facility will be Hon Hai's "Asia-Pacific operations center."

"The facility will act as a logistics hub between Hon Hai's operations in Taiwan and those in Vietman and Xiamen, mainland China," Gou said. "This will create a clustering effect, in which other companies will also set up operations centers in Kaohsiung. We believe this will significantly stimulate the economy of southern Taiwan."