Spending on research and development (R&D) made up almost 4 percent of Taiwan’s GDP last year, the highest proportion in the country’s history, National Science and Technology Council data showed.
R&D spending nationwide totaled NT$898 billion (US$27.8 billion) last year, accounting for 3.96 percent of Taiwan’s GDP, compared with 3.77 percent in 2021, the data showed.
R&D expenditure rose 9.4 percent from a year earlier, the council said, adding that spending in technology development totaled NT$654 billion, the largest portion of R&D spending, up 10.1 percent from a year earlier.
Fundamental research accounted for NT$68.5 billion of total R&D spending last year, up 12.1 percent from a year earlier, while about NT$175.4 billion went to applied research, a rise of 6 percent from a year earlier, it said.
The private sector spent NT$772.9 billion on R&D in the year, up 11 percent from a year earlier, while the government spent NT$125.1 billion, an increase of 0.6 percent from the previous year, the data showed.
In 2018, private enterprises in Taiwan accounted for more than 80 percent of national R&D spending for the first time, with the ratio increasing every year since then and reaching 85.5 percent last year, serving as the major driver of R&D activity in the country, the council said.
The data showed that 82.5 percent of R&D spending by enterprises came from large firms, or those with a workforce of more than 500.
In terms of science parks supervised by the council, firms in the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區) in Taichung and the Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區) in Tainan accounted for 47.6 percent of all R&D spending by enterprises in Taiwan last year, up from 39.1 percent in 2018, the data showed.
The science parks house many semiconductor manufacturers, computer and peripherals suppliers, communications gadget developers, optoelectronics producers, precision machinery makers and biotech technology developers, with semiconductor firms spending the most on R&D and pushing up expenditure in the past few years, the council said.
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