Taiwan's two high-tech industrial parks saw new investments rise more than fivefold in the first half of this year despite the domestic and global economic slump, official data showed yesterday.
Some NT$19.3 billion (US$556.9 million) in investments were made by 36 new companies housed in the two science-based parks, located in northern Hsinchu and southern Tainan, in the six months to June period, the data showed.
The value represented a 450 percent increase over the NT$3.5 billion of fresh funds invested by eight new companies during the same time last year.
"Investment interest is still strong in the island's benchmark industrial parks even though businesses in the rest of the country remain weak," said Huang Wen-hsiung (
Biotechnology accounted for the biggest share of new capital with NT$6 billion invested in the two parks in the first-half year. Semiconductor design accounted for NT$4.8 billion and telecommunications' NT$3.2 billion.
It was the first time that investments in biotech had exceeded other sectors, indicating "the island's industrial transformation is heading in the right direction," Huang said.
However, the two science parks did not go entirely unscathed amid the global economic slowdown.
The Hsinchu park, also known as Taiwan's "Silicon Valley," has laid off at least 5,000 workers -- including 2,800 local employees and 2,200 foreign workers -- in the first half of this year, a record since its inauguration 20 years ago.
Last week, LG Philips Displays Holding BV, a joint venture of Royal Philips Electronics NV and LG Electronics Ltd, shut down two plants in northern Taiwan including a cathode ray tube factory in Hsinchu park.
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