Central Taiwan Science Park revenue doubles, continuing to grow

January 9, 2007

The Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP) is projecting that total revenues from the companies at the park in 2006 will double over the previous year, and is looking forward to further growth in 2007.

The CTSP Administration forecasts that revenues at the park in 2006 will surpass NTD 150 billion, and will furthermore climb to NTD 240 billion in 2007, based on continued investment and a favorable outlook for major optoelectronics companies at the park, which include AUO, ProMOS Technologies, Corning, and JSR.

With the momentum from its rapid growth, the CTSP officials have declared their intention to "surpass the South and catch up with Hsinchu", referring to the Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP) and the Hsinchu Science Park (HSP), two of Taiwan's most advanced and prominent science parks.

The CTSP is comprised of the Taichung, Houli, and Huwei Industrial Parks, which host 83 companies whose total investment is worth up to NTD 1.5 trillion, said CTSP Administration Director Yang Wen-ke. Among the companies of the CTSP are Powerchip, which has recently announced a cooperative venture with Japanese company Elpida to build a chip fab at CTSP worth NTD 450 billion.

In a short span of three years, CSTP's overall business revenue has grown rapidly, with revenues from Jan. to Oct. 2006 totaling NTD 138.2 billion, Yang noted.

"[In 2007], with our target revenue of NTD 240 billion, we're closing in on the big players, and we want to surpass the south and catch up with Hsinchu -- this is our goal," said Yang, referring to the STSP and HSP.

When it first launched in 2004, the CTSP yielded modest business revenues totaling NTD 50 million. This figure jumped to NTD 60.9 billion in 2005, and park revenues for 2006 are estimated at NTD 120 billion. As of Oct. 2006, actual revenue had already reached NTD 138.2 billion.

CTSP has approved the applications of 83 companies to enter the park. Of these, 30 have already started operations and 25 are currently building factories.

An CTSP official noted that the STSP, which has been in operation for 10 years, has earned NTD 430 billion to date, while HSP has earned NTD 1.2 trillion since its founding. With an opportunity to reach earnings of NTD 300 billion in just 3 or 4 years, CTSP could catch up with the other two parks quite fast, said the official.

Currently all land at the CTSP Taichung and Houli Industrial Parks is occupied, but over 10 hectares of land at Huwei Industrial Park are available for factory use to interested applicants.

Huwei will become an even more attractive location if the neighboring Yunlin Station -- one of the stops for the new high speed rail -- is completed soon, which will encourage expansion and development in the surrounding area, the CTSP official said.

(Economic Daily News)

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