TAIWAN'S HSINCHU INDUSTRIAL PARK NEEDS A STRUCTURAL TRANSITION.

TAIPEI, July 2 Asia Pulse - Twenty years after its establishment, the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park has become a center for Taiwan's high-technology industries, but "Taiwan's Silicon Valley" needs to undergo a structural transition if it wants to advance.

The integrated circuit (IC), computer/peripherals, telecommunication and optoelectronic industries have been major foreign exchange earners in the park. However, in the first four months of this year, sales of the IC industry grew by only 1.4 per cent over the same period of last year, while the optoelectronics industry registered a sales growth of 5.3 per cent and sales in the computer/peripherals sector declined by 16.9 per cent.

On the other hand, the precision machinery, telecommunication and biotechnology sectors in the park in the January-April period all registered impressive sales growth.

Despite the sluggish international economic climate, the precision machinery manufacturers in the park attained a 47.2 per cent growth in sales in the first four months of this year as compared with the same period of last year, while the biotechnology sector enjoyed growth of 35 per cent and the telecommunications sector, 31.8 per cent.

A breakdown of sales of different sectors in the park in the January-April period shows that the IC-related sector grossed a sales revenue amounting to NT$151.53 billion, followed by computers/peripherals, with NT$59.58 billion, optoelectronics, with NT25.69 billion, telecommunications, with NT$18.68 billion, precision machinery. with NT$1.79 billion ...