The combined revenue of the nation’s three major science parks from January through April declined 1.2 percent from a year earlier, as increases in semiconductor and precision equipment sales were offset by declines in the optoelectronics sector and drops in revenue for the computer and peripherals industries.
Sales from the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), the Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區) and the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區) totaled NT$677 billion (US$22.53 billion) in the first four months of the year, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said in a statement on Tuesday.
While the Central Taiwan Science Park in Greater Taichung saw cumulative sales expand by an annual rate of 10.5 percent in the period due to semiconductor companies’ capacity expansion, the other two science parks in Hsinchu and Greater Tainan reported declining revenues, as they were affected by weaknesses in the optoelectronics and PC sectors.
The DGBAS said cumulative semiconductor sales increased 3.7 percent year-on-year to NT$389.1 billion in the three science parks and those of precision equipment grew 3 percent to NT$22.2 billion.
However, total sales of optoelectronics dropped 8 percent to NT$227.4 billion from a year earlier, and those of computers and peripherals plunged by 18.4 percent to NT$20 billion, the DGBAS said.
The semiconductor industry was the largest revenue source for the science parks in the first four months, accounting for 57.5 percent, followed by the optoelectronics industry, which contributed 33.6 percent, the data showed.
Overall, the number of companies in the three science parks reached 766 last month, which employ a total of 257,000 people, an increase of nearly 10,000 from a year earlier, according to the DGBAS.
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