Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Industry products accounted for 49.5 percent of the nation's export value, worth more than US$200 billion, from January to October this year, up 15.5 percent compared with last year's US$224 billion, according to the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD).
"Some 1.3 million job opportunities in the nation were provided by the ICT industry, which accounts for 50 percent of the manufacturing industry, equivalent to 13 percent of the nation's work force," said Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥), chairwoman of the CEPD, during the opening speech at the Taipei Computer Association's (TCA) member meeting yesterday.
Some 190,000 new work opportunities were being provided this year. Among these, 66,000 of them were related to manufacturing, with 50 percent coming from the ICT industry, she said.
The economic growth rate averaged 4.6 percent from 2002 to last year. An estimated 5.46 percent rate of economic growth is expected this year, with capital accumulation an important factor.
According to Ho, one-third of the nation's capital accumulation originates from the ICT industry. A total of NT$1.9 trillion in capital accumulation came from public investment last year, and this year the figure is expected to exceed NT$2 trillion.
The semiconductor industry, which was worth less than NT$500 billion six years ago, went up to NT$1.4 trillion last year. The thin- film-transistor liquid-crystal-display (TFT-LCD) industry, which did not exist six years ago, grew rapidly to be worth a total of NT$1.3 trillion last year.
"One of the ICT industry's biggest contributions is the economic balance between the North and the South," Ho said.
Southern Taiwan Science Park, which includes Tainan Science Park and Kaohsiung Science Park, was worth less than NT$2 billion six years ago. It is now worth a total of NT$430 billion and employee numbers increased from less than 2,000 people six years ago to 47,000 now.
Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP), which includes the Taichung and Yunlin sites, started its construction four years ago. It is now worth NT$180 billion, with a total number of 13,000 employees.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last