Revenues generated by the nation's three leading science parks are expected to hit the NT$2 trillion (US$61.08 billion) mark this year, fueled by strong second-half demand across various high-tech industries, the National Science Council said yesterday.
The combined sales of Hsinchu Science Park (
Total sales last year were NT$1.4 trillion, according to the statistics from the council, which manages the three parks.
The Hsinchu park -- the nation's largest research and development center set up in 1980 -- will generate the biggest chunk of the sales by reporting NT$1.2 trillion for the year.
"There are downsides such as rising oil prices and inflation in the second half, but we still expect an upswing in the semiconductor and panel industries to help achieve stable growth for the year," said Randy Yen (顏宗明), Hsinchu park's deputy director-general.
The figure will break the record set in 2004, where revenues from the park passed the NT$1 trillion mark to hit NT$1.09 trillion, he added.
The momentum of the Hsinchu park was visible in the first six months with 21 percent sales growth over the last year, thanks to the pick-up in computer memory prices, increased chip orders and a production boost from panel makers, according to Yen.
Among major industries, the optoelectronics segment, which includes flat panels and solar energy, reported the highest sales increase of 54 percent during the first half of the year, while precision machinery was second with a 40 percent rise.
The southern park, meanwhile, saw a 51 percent increase in revenues in the same period to NT$212 billion. Full-year figures will reach NT$500 billion, up from last year's NT$353 billion, according to the park's deputy director-general Chen Chun-wei (
Despite the rosy outlook, Tai said that more emphasis should be put on the solar energy, telecommunications and bio-tech medical equipment areas, in a bid to ensure the nation's competitiveness in the global high-tech landscape.
"More science companies with leading technologies are welcome to become a part of the parks," he said.
With the nation's first bullet train scheduled to enter service in October, this will link the high-tech clusters with the rest of the country, and attract more talent to work in central and southern Taiwan, he said.
The council said it will also obey directives from the Environmental Protection Administration, as it is its priority to protect the environment when running the parks.
Construction of the central park, which was established in 2003, raised many environmental concerns.
Yesterday morning, around 300 residents from Wuji township (
"We will continue our efforts to talk with the residents at public hearings, as the science park will create increased job opportunities and boost the domestic economy," Tai said.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is