Taiwan's silicon valley to hit record sales in 2004

Taipei (AFP) Dec 03, 2003
The Hsinchu Science-based Industrial ParK, dubbed Taiwan's silicon valley, said Wednesday it expects record sales of more than one trillion Taiwan dollars (29.24 billion US dollars) next year as the global information technology industry picks up steam.

The park in northern Taiwan posted 700 billion dollars in revenues in the 10 months to October, up 21.3 percent from a year ago, a park official said.

Revenue for 2003 is expected to reach 850-900 billion dollars thanks to the growing demand for microchips, which accounted for over 60 percent of the park's total sales, he said.

The positive outlook for 2004 was also based on the amount of new investment proposals received by the park, which jumped nearly six-fold in the first 11 months this year to 181 billion dollars, the official added.

"We are confident the park's revenues will hit a record next year, exceeding one trillion (dollars) as overseas demand continues to rise," he said.

Over 90 percent of the island's wafer foundry capacity is based in the park, which houses the world's largest contract microchip makers, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and United Microelectronics Corp.

SPACE.WIRE