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Sales at Tainan science park jump 102 percent

The emerging Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區) is expected to report more than NT$300 billion (US$8.82 billion) in annual sales this year, the park's administrator told reporters in Tainan yesterday.

In the first half of the year, the sale of land at the park grew 102.98 percent to NT$123.652 billion, said Tai Chien (戴謙), director general of Southern Taiwan Science Park Administration.

The growth in the optoelectronics sector remained the strongest at the Southern Taiwan Science Park, with sales increasing 130.82 percent in the first half to NT$82.085 billion. That figure accounted for 66.38 percent of total sales of the park.

Sales in the park' s TFT-LCD sector increased 129.22 percent to NT$77.433 billion in the first half. As the development of a 247-hectare site designated for manufacturing LCD-TV at the park is expected to be completed in February next year, Tai said he expects the park will attract an extra of 30,000 jobs and sales will exceeding NT$200 billion each year.

The park currently has a total of 28,000 employees, up from 21,000 in December last year. By the end of this year, it is expected that an additional 12,000 job will be created, with nearly 70 percent of those jobs coming from the optoelectronics sector, according to Tai.

"We still urge high-tech professionals overseas to return home to the quality of the science park," he said.

Tai said that previous problems, such as vibrations created by the passage of a high-speed trains, as well as a lack of educational programs for the children of workers, have been overcome.

Japanese executive Kazuyoshi Osako said yesterday that most Japanese workers at the park commute between Tainan and Kaohsiung, where their families live.

"Infrastructure at the park is comprehensive but medical resources and other social support systems for Japanese families remained insufficient," said Osako, who is chief executive officer of Sumika Technology Co (住華科技).

To recruit more highly skilled workers, educational resources at the park will be further improved, Tai said. The National Science Council has agreed to establish a bilingual primary and middle school covering 4.6 hectares of land at the park. The school is slated to open in September next year.

As of the end of July, 145 companies have set up operations at the park, with 65 production facilities already up and running. During the first half of this year, 12 new companies joined the park.

At the park's satellite base in Kaohsiung County, Kaohsiung Science Park (高雄科學園區), Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) announced last year it will set aside about 60 hectares of land for future expansion.

Tai said that 36 hectares of land would be reserved for the telecommunications industry at the park for future development.
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