Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has visited several high-tech companies in Silicon Valley, including Hewlett-Packard and Intel, over the past few days to urge them to invest in his city.
In a speech on Tuesday in Silicon Valley, Ma touted Taipei's strategic location and superb investment climate.
He encouraged high-tech companies to set up innovation or research and development (R&D) centers in Taipei in order to tap into China's market.
Ma said Taipei can serve as a testing market for information technology (IT) products to enter the greater Chinese community and as a springboard for technological cooperation between the East and the West.
"The greater Taipei area has a large cluster of IT companies. For instance, the Yuanshan-Linkou area is the world's largest notebook-computer production base, while Taipei City and Taipei County form the world's top motherboard-manufacturing hub," Ma said.
Noting that the Nankang Software Industrial Park's annual business turnover has reached NT$120 billion (US$3.49 billion) and that the Neihu industrial park's annual turnover has topped NT$77 billion, Ma said Taipei can be a shortcut for Silicon Valley's IT firms to enter the Chinese market.
Ma noted that Taipei has 27 universities and more than 10 large research institutes.
"We have Asia's largest number of MBA degree holders, and those with bachelor's or higher academic degrees make up 39 percent of the city's total population," he said.
An abundant supply of brainpower is key to industrial development, Ma said, adding that Taipei's per capita education expenditure is the second highest in Asia.
Since becoming mayor five years ago, Ma said, he has given priority to developing Taipei into an "Internet capital."
He said 900,000 Taipei households now have computers and 50 percent of them have subscribed to broadband communication services.
He said 72 percent of city residents use Internet services and 81 percent have cellphones. The Taipei City Government will invest in creating a broadband wireless environment to bring about new business opportunities for the IT industry, he said.
Ma said the annual Taipei international computer trade fair has become the world's third-largest exhibition of its kind. In addition to the 2,600-booth exhibition hall, Ma said, a new exhibition ground that can accommodate 3,000 booths will be inaugurated in two years' time.
He said Taipei boasts a convenient living environment, with many round-the-clock services.
"We also have rich cultural resources and facilities as well as prestigious international schools and medical services to cater to the needs of high-tech industry professionals," he said.
Ma said the city government will offer more financial incentives and vocational training services to attract foreign investors and he encouraged semiconductor design firms to set up technological support centers, product testing facilities and laboratories in Taipei.
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