The Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli region is a major center for semiconductor industries, endowed with well-developed industrial and science park infrastructure and a burgeoning local tech corridor. To balance the demands of regional development alongside the nation's overall future development, the government is launching a plan in 2024 to create Taiwan's own version of a Silicon Valley in the Taoyuan-Hsinchu-Miaoli region, building a world-leading industrial ecosystem that links local industrial technology hubs, startup clusters, and industrial and science parks. The plan will help the region attract talent, create high-quality job opportunities and spur economic development. The region's infrastructure will also be consolidated with the southern semiconductor cluster in Tainan and Kaohsiung to form a continuous tech corridor spanning all of western Taiwan.
Four main strategies
■ Cultivate future-oriented technologies locally to propel industry-wide innovation: Invest in forward-looking technologies, develop the technologies demanded by each industry and promote next-generation industrial applications. Upgrade innovation in local industries by utilizing technologies including integrated circuits, generative AI and 5G. Create business opportunities in emerging industries such as biomedicine, low Earth orbit satellites and electric vehicles.
■ Support the growth of deep tech startups: Help local universities and research institutions transform their research and patented technologies into practical applications for the marketplace, industries and wider society. Bolster investment in deep tech startup companies through the National Development Fund and domestic and foreign venture capital firms. Encourage companies in Hsinchu Science Park to collaborate with local startups, and facilitate those companies investing in, merging with or acquiring startups. Expand industries' overseas presence and invite international semiconductor startups to work with the Hsinchu Science Park supply chain.
■ Meet local demand for talent recruitment and training: Invest in regional talent training bases and specialized colleges for research in key industry-related fields; expand specialized education programs developed through industry-academia collaboration; and attract and retain more international and overseas compatriot students. Establish a regional service center dedicated to the recruitment and support of international talent. Review the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals and propose amendments to continue optimizing talent recruitment environments.
■ Improve infrastructure to facilitate the creation of technology corridors: Expand the development scope and accelerate the upgrade and transformation of industrial and science parks, activating unused spaces and optimizing usage of existing spaces, upgrading and incorporating smart technology into their public facilities, and orienting parks toward net-zero emissions and circular economy models. To increase the supply of usable land, take an inventory of unused spaces available for urban science park development, and continue promoting the vertical expansion of industrial zones.