Science parks’ revenue grows 20%

• By Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporter

The nation’s three major science parks posted record combined revenue of NT$2.05 trillion (US$64.3 billion) for the first half of the year, up 19.63 percent year-on-year, the National Science and Technology Council said in a report yesterday.

The council attributed the robust performance to growing demand for artificial intelligence of things, 5G, high-performance computing and other emerging applications, which lifted the sales of semiconductor companies in the three parks.

Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) saw first-half revenue rise 10.94 percent annually to NT$825.4 billion, while the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區) and the Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區) posted revenue growth of 18.37 percent to NT$571.5 billion and 34.17 percent to NT$652.1 billion respectively during the same period, the report said.

Photo courtesy of National Science and Technology Council

The parks exported a combined NT$1.32 trillion in the first six months of the year, up 2.74 percent from a year earlier, while their combined imports surged 74.28 percent to NT$859.4 billion, as companies continued to build factories and expanded production while increasing purchases of precision machinery and equipment from abroad, the council said.

Overall, the three parks saw two-way trade rise 22.63 percent year-on-year to NT$2.17 trillion in the first half, also a new high, it added.

The three parks employed a record 313,877 people, up 6.4 percent year-on-year, the council said.

“Despite turmoil triggered by the Russian-Ukraine war, China’s [COVID-19] lockdowns and surging inflation, the science parks’ semiconductor clusters — from upstream to midstream and downstream firms — performed strongly in the first half,” the report said.

“Coupled with the excellent performance of the information and communications technology industry, the science parks contributed to the nation’s GDP growth and helped strengthen Taiwan’s indispensable role in the global high-tech industry,” it said.

Of the six major industries in the parks, the integrated circuit industry placed first in terms of revenue growth, rising 28.34 percent year-on-year to NT$1.57 trillion, followed by the computer and peripherals industry with an increase of 27.15 percent to NT$98.19 billion.

The communications industry’s revenue increased 16.26 percent to NT$38.88 billion, the precision machinery industry’s sales rose 14.18 percent to NT$65.7 billion and the biotechnology industry’s sales were up 6.08 percent to NT$19.99 billion, the report showed.

However, the optoelectronics industry’s revenue fell 16.08 percent annually to NT$246 billion due to a relatively higher comparison base last year, falling flat-panel prices, inventory adjustments and cooling demand in the end market, it said.

The council said it still anticipates a mild increase in the parks’ sequential revenue in the second half of the year, despite growing headwinds in terms of persistent inflation, the war in Ukraine, a slowing global economy and the US Federal Reserve’s continued rate hikes.

The three parks’ full-year revenue is forecast to hit NT$4.05 trillion this year, the council said.