The nation’s three major science parks posted record combined revenue of NT$4.76 trillion (US$144.41 billion) for last year, up 20.73 percent year-on-year, the National Science and Technology Council said in a report yesterday.
The council attributed the strong performance to rising demand for emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the end of inventory adjustments throughout the global semiconductor supply chain, the report said.
Combined revenue of firms at Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) increased 6.66 percent annually to NT$1.51 trillion, Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區) posted revenue growth of 10.22 percent to NT$1.04 trillion and Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區) grew 39.55 percent to NT$2.21 trillion, the council said.
Photo courtesy of the National Science and Technology Council
Southern Taiwan Science Park’s revenue exceeded the NT$2 trillion mark for the first time, spurred by a higher sales contribution by semiconductor firms led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), it said.
Regarding TSMC’s plans to construct 11 new production lines in Taiwan this year, the council is planning the second phase of expansion at Central Taiwan Science Park’s Taichung campus as a possible site for the chipmaker’s new investment at home, National Science and Technology Council Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) told a news conference in Taipei.
“The government would continue to assist TSMC’s development in Taiwan” in terms of land, labor and utility, Wu said.
TSMC is expected to start mass production of chips using advanced node technologies at Hsinchu Science Park’s Baoshan (寶山) campus and Southern Taiwan Science Park’s Kaohsiung campus, while it plans to produce next-generation, cutting-edge 1.4-nanometer chips, he said.
Last year, the three science parks exported a combined NT$3.44 trillion of goods, up 29.57 percent from a year earlier, as the AI boom helped drive shipments of advanced chips and emerging-technology products, the report said.
At the same time, the combined imports of the three parks rose 35.33 percent to NT$2.4 trillion as a result of companies continuing to build factories and expand production, which boosted purchases of precision machinery and equipment from abroad, it said.
Overall, the three parks saw two-way trade increase 31.88 percent year-on-year to NT$5.84 trillion last year, also a new high, it added.
Of the parks’ six major industries, the IC industry was top in terms of revenue, rising 25.4 percent year-on-year to NT$3.81 trillion, followed by the optoelectronics industry with an increase of 6.89 percent to NT$439.04 billion, the report said.
Revenue of the computer and peripherals industry grew 8.02 percent to NT$224.35 billion, precision machinery industry sales rose 15.03 percent to NT$144.97 billion and the biotechnology industry reported sales were up 9.64 percent to NT$46.5 billion, it said.
However, revenue of the communications industry decreased 25.11 percent to NT$74.71 billion, as geopolitical tensions pushed firms to adjust their supply chain deployment, the report said.
The council said it anticipates a steady increase in the parks’ revenue this year on the back of the continued development of advanced process technologies and AI applications, despite uncertainties created by tariffs policies and other protectionist trade measures of US President Donald Trump’s administration, as well as the persistent shadow of geopolitical risks.
Apple Inc increased iPhone production in India by about 53 percent last year and now makes a quarter of its marquee devices there, reflecting the US company’s efforts to avoid tariffs on China. The company assembled about 55 million iPhones in India last year, up from 36 million a year earlier, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named because the numbers aren’t public. Apple makes about 220 million to 230 million iPhones a year globally, with India’s share of the total increasing rapidly. Apple has accelerated its expansion in the world’s most populous country in recent years, bolstered
HEADWINDS: The company said it expects its computer business, as well as consumer electronics and communications segments to see revenue declines due to seasonality Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it aims to grow its artificial intelligence (AI) server revenue more than 10-fold this year from last year, driven by orders from neocloud solutions clients and large cloud service providers. The electronics manufacturing service provider said AI server revenue growth would be driven primarily by the Nvidia Corp GB300 server platform. Server shipments are expected to increase each quarter this year, with the second half likely to outperform the first half, it said. The AI server market is expected to broaden this year as more inference applications emerge, which would drive demand for system-on-chip, application-specific integrated circuits
Chinese entrepreneur Frank Gao used to spend long hours running his social media accounts but now outsources the chore to artificial intelligence (AI) agent tool OpenClaw, which is taking China by storm despite official warnings over cybersecurity. OpenClaw, created in November by an Austrian coder, differs from bots such as ChatGPT because it can execute real-life tasks such as sending e-mails, organizing files or even booking flight tickets. “Since January, I’ve spent hours on the lobster every day,” Gao said in an interview, referring to OpenClaw’s red crustacean mascot. “We’re family.” After downloading OpenClaw, users connect it to artificial intelligence models of their
PROJECTION: TSMC said it expects strong growth this year, with revenue in US dollars projected to grow by about 30 percent, outperforming the industry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported consolidated sales last month reached NT$317.66 billion (US$9.98 billion), the highest ever for the month of February, driven by robust demand for chips built using the company’s advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process. Last month’s figure was up 22.2 percent from a year earlier, but fell 20.8 percent from January, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. For the first two months of the year, TSMC posted cumulative sales of NT$718.91 billion, up 29.9 percent from a year earlier. Analysts attributed the growth to sustained global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products
RSS