Sales of Taiwan’s computer and information technology (IT) service sector last quarter hit a record high of NT$111.8 billion (US$3.71 billion), a 12 percent year-on-year increase, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
The increase was mostly driven by strong sales from the computer programming industry, which jumped 13.1 percent annually to NT$86.7 billion, a ministry report said.
“Over the course of last year, we witnessed steady and robust growth from the computer programming industry as an increasing number of local companies seek digital transformation,” Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Wang Shu-chuan (王淑娟) said by telephone, adding that many more firms are boosting their spending in areas such as cybersecurity and switch data networks.
The IT service industry, which contributes about 22.45 percent to the computer and IT service sector, also posted record-high revenue of NT$25.1 billion, an 8.2 percent increase year-on-year, on the back of promotional sales by online auction sites and rising spending on servers, the ministry said.
Overall revenue for the computer and IT service sector expanded 9.7 percent annually to NT$380.4 billion, a record high.
The technical support and professional service sector also posted record-breaking revenue of NT$96.6 billion, following three consecutive quarters of annual declines.
The sector’s recovery was principally due to annual growths of 0.8 and 13.7 percent in the management and consulting industry and the professional design industry, which posted sales of NT$27.3 billion and NT$23 billion respectively.
There were also downturns. Advertising and market research industry sales fell 4.5 percent to NT$43.8 billion, the ministry said.
The technical support and professional service sector saw its revenue slip 0.8 percent from the previous year to NT$331.9 billion.
In other news, the ministry said Taiwan’s rental and leasing sector last quarter reported its highest revenue at NT$36.3 billion, an 8.2 percent increase year-on-year.
Wang said the vehicle leasing sector showed healthy growth, but the machine equipment rental industry continued to slow.
“We are hoping for market demand to recover this year as investments from Taiwanese companies returning home start to materialize,” Wang said.
Total revenue for the rental and leasing sector hit a new high of NT$137.6 billion, a 3.5 percent increase over the previous year.
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