The nation’s three major science parks posted combined revenue of NT$1.8 trillion (US$55.8 billion) for the first half of the year, down 11.95 percent year-on-year, the National Science and Technology Council said in a report yesterday.
The council attributed the decline to sluggish end-market demand and industry-wide inventory adjustments amid high global inflation and interest rates, which negatively affected the business performance of companies in the three parks.
However, the first-half figure was still the second-highest ever for the same period on record, it said.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
From January to June, Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) reported revenue contracted by 19.01 percent annually to NT$668.4 billion and the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區) posted revenue decline of 19.72 percent to NT$458.8 billion, while the Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區) saw revenue increase 3.81 percent to NT$677 billion in the same period, the report said.
The parks exported a combined NT$1.11 trillion of goods in the first six months of the year, down 15.69 percent from a year earlier, due to sustained inventory destocking in the supply chain and a high comparison base a year earlier, the council said.
Their combined imports rose 2.45 percent to NT$880.4 billion, as companies continued to build factories and expand production while increasing purchases of precision machinery and equipment from abroad, it said.
Overall, the three parks saw two-way trade fall 8.52 percent year-on-year to NT$1.99 trillion in the first half, it added.
The three parks had a record 323,532 employees, up 3.08 percent from 313,877 last year, the council said.
“Given high inflation and interest rate hikes, and the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, global demand was weak during the first half, which also affected orders received by companies in the science parks,” the report said. “However, the continued expansion by major manufacturers and the support of the world’s most advanced and high-value manufacturing processes offered a buffer to the downturn.”
Of the six major industries in the parks, the communications industry placed first in terms of revenue growth, rising 17.38 percent year-on-year to NT$45.64 billion, followed by the biotechnology industry with an increase of 3.42 percent to NT$20.68 billion.
However, the optoelectronics industry’s revenue fell the most by 22.14 percent to NT$191.5 billion due to declining flat-panel prices, inventory adjustments and cooling demand in the end market, while the integrated circuit industry also posted revenue decline of 11.82 percent to NT$1.39 trillion, the report showed.
Meanwhile, the computer and peripherals industry’s revenue decreased 6.72 percent to NT$91.6 billion and the precision machinery industry’s sales dropped 10.12 percent to NT$59.05 billion, the report showed.
As global macroeconomic uncertainties remain in the second half of the year, the council forecast the three parks’ full-year revenue this year would fall slightly from the record number of NT$4.27 trillion last year, but it predicted communications and biotechnology industries’ revenues would continue hitting new highs.
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