Hsinchu Science and Technology Industrial Park is home to 360 high tech companies including TSMC, Philips, United Microelectronics Corporation,Holtek, AU Optronics and Epistar. As a result, the city has the highest income level in Taiwan.
The purpose of the park is to attract high tech investment to Taiwan and to make the area the economic center for the information industry. The park is designed to cater for high quality R&D, production, work, life and also recreation. From its establishment in 1978, the government has invested over NT$30 billion on software and hardware ventures. In 2001, it developed 2.5km2 of land in the Park and 0.5km2 in southern Hsinchu, attracting 312 high-tech companies' investments. Viewing the performance of Hsinchu Science and Industrial Park in the past 21 years, it can be said that it holds a decisive position in the economic development in Taiwan, with international acclaim.
Although the semi-conductor and related electronic businesses have been doing well, they face fierce competition from Japan, Korea, the United States and Singapore. This has resulted in lower profits and over-supply of some electronic products such as memory and semi-conductors. Therefore manufacturers, government, academia, and the R&D sectors all recognize the challenges faced by Taiwan's high-tech development. The government has endeavored to upgrade Hsinchu Science Park into a global manufacturing and R&D center of high-end products. They also plan to intensify the cooperation among the manufacturing, academic, and research sectors by introducing incubation centers, in order to elevate the technological standard in the park. Further, through the development of the northern, central, and southern industrial park and its satellite sites, it hopes to sow the seeds of high tech business in all of Taiwan, leading to a vigorous era of high tech development
