Poll says China to become Taiwan's main IT competitor

Some 50 percent of Taiwan's high-tech businesses believe that China will become Taiwan's leading competitor due to the "go-west" exodus by local IT companies, according to a recent poll.

At the same time, nearly 90 percent of Taiwan's high-tech firms are worried that Taiwan-based foreign companies will move their production lines out of Taiwan in the coming three years, the survey made public by the Mandarin Business Weekly (商業周刊) in early August shows.

The poll of companies whose business revenues exceeded NT$500 million in 2000 shows that only 8.9 percent think Taiwan's economy will remain "in good shape" over the coming three years, lagging 43.6 percent who said it will be "regular" and 47.5 percent that are "pessimistic."