Total investment in research and development (R&D) in the nation’s manufacturing sector grew 8.3 percent annually to a record NT$270.9 billion (US$8.24 billion) in the first half of the year, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
“While the manufacturing sector’s production value saw an annual decline last quarter because of a weak global economy, an increase in R&D investment in the first half of the year shows that Taiwanese manufacturers are working hard to raise their competitiveness in the international market,” Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Yang Kuei-hsien (楊貴顯) said by telephone.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) led all listed companies by spending more than NT$30 billion in R&D during the first six months, a surge of 30.1 percent year-on-year.
It is the first time a semiconductor company has invested more than NT$30 billion in R&D in the first half of the year, Yang said.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the nation’s leading contract manufacturer, spent NT$22.7 billion in R&D in the first six months, up 7.2 percent from a year ago, while MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation’s largest handset chip designer, invested NT$21.7 billion, an increase of 12.6 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.
Flat-panel manufacturer Innolux Corp’s (群創) investment in R&D jumped 47.2 percent to NT$7.6 billion over the six-month period, mainly to develop new applications used in large flat panels, the data showed.
Yang said that as China is developing its own panel industry, many Taiwanese panel manufacturers are raising their competitiveness by investing in advanced technologies and applications in larger-sized panels.
While the manufacturing sector’s R&D investment hit a record high in the first half, Yang said the sector’s investment in fixed assets dropped 6.8 percent annually to NT$525 billion during the period, mainly because of fewer investments by the semiconductor industry.
“The semiconductor industry invested heavily on expanding production capacity in the past few years... Those companies are making adjustments to their production capacity, leading to fewer investments in fixed assets,” Yang said.
The data showed that the electronics industry, which includes the semiconductor industry, invested NT$278.7 billion in fixed assets in the first six months of the year, declining 17.9 percent from last year’s NT$339.8 billion.
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