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ICT products make up large part of exports

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.
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