The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a plan to develop Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli County into a powerhouse for technology in a step toward implementing a key part of president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) platform.
This project — dubbed the “Taoyuan-Hsinchu-Miaoli great Silicon Valley plan” with an emphasis on integrated utilities and infrastructure — would receive NT$20 billion (US$634.54 million) from this year’s budget should lawmakers sign off on the appropriation.
The initiative is to go to the Legislative Yuan for debate.
Photo: Liao Hsueh-ju, Taipei Times
The proposed industrial zone is hoped to create 140,000 jobs and add NT$6 trillion to the economy, National Development Council Deputy Minister Kao Shien-quey (高仙桂) told a news conference.
The project’s cost cannot be accurately estimated at this time, as its medium and long-term costs remain unknown, Kao said.
The development of a national semiconductor industry is an issue of strategic importance, he said, citing foreign efforts to build tech clusters in Arizona, Japan’s Kyushu and Seoul.
The design of the planned industrial zone would emphasize domestic innovation in tech, creating a skilled workforce in the region and the infrastructure necessary for the sector’s development, Kao said.
Electricity and water supplies, transportation and communication capacities, healthcare, homes, schools and proper utilization of renewable energy are some of the issues the project needs to address, he said.
Water supplies for the zone would likely be drawn from New Taipei City’s Sanchong (三重) and Lujhou (蘆洲) districts, Taoyuan’s Shihmen Reservoir (石門水庫) and water reclamation plants, he said.
Solar and offshore wind farms, energy-storage systems, smart grid solutions, grid resilience improvements and reserves provided by dual-circuit power supplies would ensure a stable supply of energy, he said.
The planned Sinmeilung (新梅龍) and Banlong (板龍) highways in conjunction with expansions of light rail systems in Taoyuan and Hsinchu would ease traffic, while affordable housing and improved waste management in the zone would improve livability and sustainability, he said.
The Hsinchu Science Park would receive 1,605 hectares of additional land, he added.
Separately, the National Development Council proposed a four-year project dubbed the “Asian Silicon Valley 3.0 plan” with a first-year budget of NT$11.7 billion.
The Asian Silicon Valley plan would boost investment in innovative technologies, including 5G Internet, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, to enable Taiwanese solutions to access foreign markets, council officials said.
The two “Silicon Valley” plans are mutually supportive plans that are part of the government’s core strategic industries, sustainability and innovation policies, they said.
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