Sales of electronics components at export processing zones across Taiwan grew from NT$156 billion (US$5.06 billion at the current exchange rate) in 1997 to NT$234 billion in 2017, with the increase of 69.1 percent the greatest across all industries, the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ said in a report last week.
The data — collected from 381 factories at the 10 export processing zones in Pingtung County, Taichung and Kaohsiung — showed that overall sales in the 20-year period increased by NT$103.3 billion to NT$338.5 billion in 2017, the Department of Statistics said.
Revenue in the electronics components industry increased NT$78.2 billion in the period, driven by the growth of semiconductor packaging and testing firms, it said.
The industry also added 168 firms and 24,000 employees, while research and development expenses increased by NT$8.2 billion over the period, it said.
The chemical materials industry was second in terms of revenue increase, from essentially nothing to NT$10.6 billion, it said.
“Taiwan was more oriented toward what we now call traditional industries, therefore the chemical materials industry was not developed back then,” department of Deputy Director-General Wang Shu-chuan (王淑娟) told the Taipei Times by telephone on Wednesday.
The computer electronics and optical industry was the second-largest with NT$29 billion in revenue in 2017, compared with NT$42.4 billion in 1997.
Wang attributed the decrease mainly to the industry offshoring production.
The ready-to-wear clothing and accessories industry saw revenue decrease by NT$5.3 billion over the 20 years, the report said.
“The labor-intensive industry has also been offshoring its production to China and Southeast Asia, where labor is cheaper, in an effort to reduce costs,” Wang said.
Revenue in the machinery equipment industry grew from NT$6.4 billion to NT$11.2 billion over the period, the report said.
As companies in the export processing zones have seen constrained revenue growth in the past few years, the ministry is considering renovating and expanding the zones, in particular the Nantze Export Processing Zone (楠梓加工出口區) in Kaohsiung, which was established in 1966.
The ministry has budgeted NT$2.4 billion for the effort, aiming to create 3,000 jobs.
It also plans to introduce other industries to move into the zones — such as optoelectronics, flat panels, smart manufacturing systems and software — the ministry said.
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