Local Internet usage rates hit record highs among the general public as well as smartphone users last year, according to the National Development Council’s (NDC) Individual/Household Digital Opportunity Survey for the year.
The survey, released on Friday, showed that 82.3 percent of people aged over 12 had used the Internet, up 2.6 percentage points from 2016 and an increase of nearly 20 percentage points since 2005.
The survey found that 87.4 percent of smartphone users had browsed the Internet, up from 83.1 percent a year earlier and indicating that smartphones have created new growth in the number of people online.
The 50-to-59 age group’s Internet use increased the most, with usage rates increasing from 74.1 percent in 2016 to 83.3 percent last year, the council said.
In general, the Internet usage rates of the age groups below 50, which the council dubbed “the Internet generations,” were close to or exceeded last year’s 96 percent.
In terms of online social interaction, the survey indicated that Web users were very active in both one-way and two-way activity.
Most netizens used instant messaging software or social networking (96.8 percent) last year, followed by Internet telephony (86.3 percent), watching movies, listening to music (84.6 percent) and searching for information related to daily life or news (84.4 percent), the survey showed.
Among those engaging in economic activities, 61.3 percent of respondents said they had searched online for commodity information and prices, 59.2 percent bought something online, 33.2 percent used online banking services and 10.1 percent made mobile payments.
The survey, which sampled 9,337 respondents, was conducted by telephone from Aug. 22 to Sept. 29.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald
UNCERTAINTY: Investors remain worried that trade negotiations with Washington could go poorly, given Trump’s inconsistency on tariffs in his second term, experts said The consumer confidence index this month fell for a ninth consecutive month to its lowest level in 13 months, as global trade uncertainties and tariff risks cloud Taiwan’s economic outlook, a survey released yesterday by National Central University found. The biggest decline came from the timing for stock investments, which plunged 11.82 points to 26.82, underscoring bleak investor confidence, it said. “Although the TAIEX reclaimed the 21,000-point mark after the US and China agreed to bury the hatchet for 90 days, investors remain worried that the situation would turn sour later,” said Dachrahn Wu (吳大任), director of the university’s Research Center for
RSS