The Cabinet yesterday vowed to turn biotechnology into the country’s third “trillion-dollar industry” in 10 years, joining the semiconductor and flat-panel industries, which each generate more than NT$1 trillion (US$29.5 billion) a year in revenue.
“Biotechnology is a mainstream global industry that Taiwan can’t miss,” Minister Without Portfolio Chang Jin-fu (張進福) said at a press conference.
Under the plan, the Cabinet will initiate a fund-raising campaign to establish a NT$60 billion venture capital fund that would focus on biotechnology. The government’s National Development Fund will take a 40 percent stake and the remaining 60 percent will be controlled by the private sector.
The government hopes to raise initial capital of between NT$7.5 billion and NT$10 billion and attract another NT$80 billion from private sector.
“With the venture capital fund, [the government] will be taking a positive approach to seeking potential investments in bio-tech industries, including agricultural biotechnology. We hope to double the production value of the industry in four years,” Chang said.
Government data indicates that private-sector investment in biotechnology has shown signs of stagnating since exceeding NT$20 billion for the first time in 2001. Public-sector investment has averaged around NT$1.2 billion a year since then.
Chang said the country’s biotech sector was still budding, with a total production value of NT$130 billion per year and a total business volume of NT$200 billion in 2007.
The domestic biotech industry accounted for a small portion of the global market, Chang said.
The Executive Yuan said the global pharmaceutical industry was worth US$712 billion in 2007, while the medical device industry was worth US$194 billion.
Chang said the government would proceed with the plans to establish a medical device industry in Hsinchu and a pharmaceutical industry in Taipei City’s Nangang District (南港).
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS