The annual revenue of the nation’s three main science parks last year was NT$1.9 trillion (US$64.2 billion), an 11.61 percent drop compared with 2010, but annual revenue is estimated to reach about NT$2.07 trillion this year, growing about 8.66 percent, according to the National Science Council (NSC).
The council on Friday released the annual report on operations at the Hsinchu Science Park, the Central Taiwan Science Park in Changhua County and the Southern Taiwan Science Park. The parks are managed by the council.
The reduced annual revenue was the result of the negative influence of the European debt crisis and the downside risks in the global economy, so the average growth rate has slowed down, the council said. It added that, influenced by the slow economic recovery of the US, the inflationary pressure of emerging markets and the unbalanced supply and demand in Japan’s industrial sector after the earthquake and tsunami disaster last year, demand in the global consumer market has dropped.
NSC Deputy Minister Hochen Hong (賀陳弘) said that of the six main industries at the parks, the biotechnology industry posted the highest revenue growth rate of 10.29 percent, or a NT$1.108 billion increase, compared with 2010. The computer and peripherals industry dropped 16.7 percent, or a NT$13.138 billion decrease, compared with 2010.
Annual revenues of the integrated circuit, optoelectronics, computer and peripherals, and communication industries all dropped last year. Only the precision-machinery and biotechnology industries showed revenue growth, the council said.
It added that the integrated circuit and optoelectronics industries revenue made up more than 90 percent of total revenue. Therefore a drop in revenue in these two industries had led to the science parks’ overall diminished revenue.
The performance of the six industries can be described as “the hen becomes thin and the chicks grow up,” Hochen said, adding that revenue in the precision-machinery industry has grown from NT$71.1 billion in 2010 to NT$66.8 billion last year, and has the potential to continue growing.
Although revenue growth had dropped last year, employment at the parks had reached the highest in the parks’ history — about 237,800 people, he added.
The council estimated that the Hsinchu Science Park would this year record annual revenue of NT$1.08 trillion, the Central Taiwan Science Park NT$360 billion and the Southern Taiwan Science Park NT$630 billion, reaching a total of NT$2.07 trillion in revenue.
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