Hsinchu park sees growth in annual sales

The Hsinchu Science-based Indus-trial Park's annual sales grew 6.5 percent last year to NT$70.55 billion, the National Science Council said yesterday, despite the global recession and uncertainty over a potential war in Iraq.

The park's administration pre-dicts sales this year would increase if a war in the Middle East does not injure the world economy.

According to the park's deputy director general, Randy Yen (顏宗明), the park's sales this year should be between NT$75 billion and NT$85 billion due to the entry of high-tech firms into a new base in Chunan.

In addition, data from VLSI Research, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and Dataquest, Yen said, reveal good signs for the high-tech industry this year.

Yen said integrated-circuit industry sales of companies in the park last year grew 21.4 percent to NT$45.75 billion.

The industry accounts for 64.8 percent of the park's total sales.

Sales of precision machinery, biotechnology and communications grew by 12.4 percent, 6.1 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. However, Yen said, annual sales for the computer-peripheral declined by 22.8 percent and photoelectric industries sales declined by 3.5 percent.

"Shifting plants to China and other developing countries caused the negative annual growth," Yen said.

Yen said the number of firms and employees in the park increased last year. By the end of last year, there were 335 firms and a total of 98,685 employees.

Last year the council promoted the Hsinchu park in the US and succeeded in luring many Tai-wanese high-tech professionals working in Silicon Valley back home.

"Last year, we had a record-breaking number of newly established firms -- 53," Yen said.

The new firms, mostly focusing on integrated-circuit and photoelectric industries, brought in NT$2.85 billion in investment.

Meanwhile, the number of firms kicked out by the park, 22, also broke a record. The figure is usually a single digit, officials said.

"If companies can't meet the original business plans they provided in their applications, we will not waste the government's resources on helping them," park director-general James Lee (李界木) said.

Chen Ming-huang (陳銘煌), director of the park's division of Investment Service, attributed the phenomenon to a weak economic recovery and changes in companies' strategies.

"Some firms adopted alternative strategies to lower cost, such as merging with others or moving out of the park," Chen said.

The park is reviewing more than 40 applicants, with capital exceeding NT$1.5 billion, officials said.