News Flash

Mapping Taiwan's Future

Following up on a story in the most recent issue of Microdisplay Report, leaders of Taiwan's semiconductor and display industries met in Taipei last month to discuss how to best leverage Taiwan's two key industries - integrated circuits (IC) and color imaging (CI), which are expected to be worth $88B in 2006.

Leaders realize that R&D needs to increase to well over 2% of GDP in order to compete with other industrialized countries. That and a plan to extend preferential investment policy should help Taiwan become a center for IC design, development and manufacturing. Taiwan then expects to have a greater influence on future system development and increase the value of semiconductor-related sectors. Taiwan aims to be among the top three IC suppliers, joining the U.S. and Japan, by boosting its current market value of $16B to over 48B by 2006.

Taiwan currently relies on foreign companies for TFT, PDP and OLED equipment. So it will introduce a zero import tax on items used for export products, as well as other tax incentives for the purchase of equipment.

For IC, the focus will be on design, following the course of the U.S., which has successfully moved manufacturing offshore while introducing innovative designs. The infrastructure is already there since Taiwan represents 73% of the foundry industry, 31% of testing and packaging, and it's already number two in the design arena.

The recent summit identified system-on-a-chip design and understanding market sensitivities and demands as two potential areas for improvement.

Taiwan's flat-panel display industry is expected to approach the $8B mark this year, a 94% jump over last year. Its IC value is expected to be roughly $19B of the global $142B market in 2002.

Ministry of Economic Affairs, Wan Fen Chen, [886] 2-2536-1318, ext 138

Insight Media, Chris Chinnock, 203-831-8404, chris@insightmedia.info

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