The government has approved a proposal to establish an area in Taiwan's largest science park to promote semiconductor design, the Cabinet said earlier this week. The measure is part of an overall government plan to promote knowledge-based industries as the manufacturing sector moves to China.
A tract of land near the concentration of chip manufacturing plants inside the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park (新竹科學園區) has been set aside for new chip designers, and an incentive package that includes tax breaks and research grants has also been developed.
The land to be set aside for the integrated-circuit design area is outside of Hsinchu science park proper, near facilities owned by Winbond Electronics Corp (
Chip-design houses create blueprints for new semiconductors, which are the internal organs responsible for enabling electronic gadgets to talk, walk, store information and perform many other functions.
Semiconductor firms call new designs, "new architecture," because designing transistor layers on a new chip resembles the levels of a building.
The government hopes to increase the number of design houses in an effort to move Taiwan into the production of more upstream products by creating intellectual property which can be licensed.
Offering cheap land inside science parks and perks such as lower taxes and grants for research and development will help to boost IC-design development.
Companies inside the park, while happy with the government package, say research talent is the key issue in developing a new company, not necessarily cheap land.
"We believe the most important consideration is people -- our research talent," said Grace Lin, spokesperson for MediaTek Inc (
Blockbuster products come from creativity and innovation, she said.
The company was further aided by United Microelectronics Corp (UMC,
"The design industry in Taiwan didn't take off until the foundry chipmakers set up here and gave them a place to have their chips made," Dan Heyler, a chip analyst for Merrill Lynch, said at a technology conference in May.
After Taiwan began developing its chip-foundry industry, the design industry here was able to take off. The number of chip design houses in Taiwan now ranks second only to the US.
Taiwan-based VIA Technologies Inc (
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