High-tech comeback set to relieve unemployment

Taiwan's unemployment problem appears to be easing with high-tech companies planning to increase jobs to expand their businesses.

MiTAC Group (神通集團), one of Taiwan's major personal computer makers, said it plans to increase its number of employers by around 5 percent at its operations worldwide because of an increase in demand.

"We aim to recruit 1,000 new staff with high-tech expertise from the world as our business is growing," said Billy Ho (何繼武), president of MiTAC International Corp (神達電腦), at a job fair held Saturday in Taipei.

MiTAC International Corp (神達電腦) is a wholly-owned subsidiary under the MiTAC Group. The group also has subsidiaries including notebook-computer maker MiTAC Technology Corp (神基科技) and MiTAC Precision Technology Corp (漢達精密), as well as Tyan Computer Corp (泰安電腦), that specializes in design and manufactures system board products.

Demand for high-tech talents in the nation is rising for the next half of the year. For its part, MiTAC is seeking to recruit 650 local staff in the fields of product development, manufacturing, engineering, marketing, testing, engineering and sales, Ho said.

For the first half of the year, MiTAC International saw its sales rise by 57.4 percent from a year ago to NT$17.06 billion.

In addition to its recruitment plan, the group also plans to establish a global research and development center in Taiwan, Ho said.

The R&D center is expected to house over 2,650 researchers, who will kickstart its operation by the second quarter of next year, said MiTAC spokeswoman Justine Liu (劉宜君). Both Ho and Liu declined to discuss the investment value of the center.

James Hwang (黃明漢), president of MiTAC Technology, who also attended the fair, said there is a shortage of high-tech know-how in the nation. As the economy picks up its pace in the second half of the year, the demand for such talents will increase further, he added.

MiTAC joins other companies, such as Au Optronics Corp (友達光電) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), that are recruiting staff in Taiwan amid hopes that an economic pick-up in the US and Japan will create demand for Taiwan-made goods.

According to a recent poll released by the online job bank CTJob (中時人力網), 49.09 percent of job vacancies were related to high-tech industries such as computers, optoelectronic components, semiconductors and telecom.