The technology sector’s research and development (R&D) spending reached a record NT$820.6 billion (US$26.72 billion) in 2021, up 14.2 percent from the previous year, the National Science and Technology Council said on Friday.
The R&D spending accounted for 3.77 percent of Taiwan’s GDP in 2021, also setting a new high and rising from 3.61 percent in 2020, the council said in a report on its Web site.
The private sector accounted for 84.9 percent of tech R&D spending in 2021 with NT$696.3 billion, up 16.4 percent from a year earlier, while the public sector spent NT$124.3 billion, up 3.1 percent annually, the council said.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
Enterprises, particularly those in the semiconductor industry, served as the major growth driver for tech R&D spending, due to solid global demand for chips made with high-end processes used in emerging technologies such as 5G applications and artificial intelligence of things, as well as online learning and remote work, which were prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic, the council said.
R&D spending by enterprises totaled NT$691.59 billion in 2021, up 16.6 percent from a year earlier, it added.
As many tech giants are based in the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區) and the Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區), which are supervised by the council, these accounted for 45.4 percent of enterprises’ total R&D spending, up from 42.3 percent in 2020.
In addition to semiconductor suppliers, the science parks also house manufacturers from the computer and peripherals, communications, optoelectronics, precision machinery and biotech industries, which also spent considerably on R&D, the council said.
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record high at the end of last month, surpassing the US$600 billion mark for the first time, the central bank said yesterday. Last month, the country’s foreign exchange reserves rose US$5.51 billion from a month earlier to reach US$602.94 billion due to an increase in returns from the central bank’s portfolio management, the movement of other foreign currencies in the portfolio against the US dollar and the bank’s efforts to smooth the volatility of the New Taiwan dollar. Department of Foreign Exchange Director-General Eugene Tsai (蔡炯民)said a rate cut cycle launched by the US Federal Reserve
Handset camera lens maker Largan Precision Co (大立光) on Sunday reported a 6.71 percent year-on-year decline in revenue for the third quarter, despite revenue last month hitting the highest level in 11 months. Third-quarter revenue was NT$17.68 billion (US$581.2 million), compared with NT$18.95 billion a year earlier, the company said in a statement. The figure was in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$17.9 billion, but missed the market consensus estimate of NT$18.97 billion. The third-quarter revenue was a 51.44 percent increase from NT$11.67 billion in the second quarter, as the quarter is usually the peak
Nvidia Corp’s major server production partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) reported 10.99 percent year-on-year growth in quarterly sales, signaling healthy demand for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. Revenue totaled NT$2.06 trillion (US$67.72 billion) in the last quarter, in line with analysts’ projections, a company statement said. On a quarterly basis, revenue was up 14.47 percent. Hon Hai’s businesses cover four primary product segments: cloud and networking, smart consumer electronics, computing, and components and other products. Last quarter, “cloud and networking products delivered strong growth, components and other products demonstrated significant growth, while smart consumer electronics and computing products slightly declined,” compared with the
The US government on Wednesday sanctioned more than two dozen companies in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, including offshoots of a US chip firm, accusing the businesses of providing illicit support to Iran’s military or proxies. The US Department of Commerce included two subsidiaries of US-based chip distributor Arrow Electronics Inc (艾睿電子) on its so-called entity list published on the federal register for facilitating purchases by Iran’s proxies of US tech. Arrow spokesman John Hourigan said that the subsidiaries have been operating in full compliance with US export control regulations and his company is discussing with the US Bureau of
RSS