Kaohsiung, Sept. 23 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian said Thursday that Taiwan's three major science-based industrial parks, located in northern, central and southern Taiwan, respectively, are poised to line up as Taiwan's economic development backbone.
When the Taiwan high-speed railway is opened to traffic in October next year, it will serve as a lifeline connecting the three science parks, helping these production strongholds to achieve an industrial synergy and ushering Taiwan's high-tech industries into a new era, Chen said.
President Chen made the remarks when addressing a ground-breaking ceremony at the Southern Taiwan Science-based Industrial Park for the building of a new manufacturing affiliate of Allied Material Technology Corp. (AMTC) , a major producer of color filters for TFT-LCD panels.
AMTC is investing NT$15 billion (US$442 million) in the building of a new manufacturing plant in the Southern Taiwan Science-based Industrial Park, expecting to produce 6th-generation color filters for large-sized TFT-LCD panels.
Addressing the ceremony, Chen said that AMTC, with a workforce of 730 researchers and skilled workers, has been an unsung hero, just like a great number of others who have been working industriously in the TFT-LCD industry -- a new star industry poised to become another NT$2 trillion industry in Taiwan behind the semiconductor industry.
Taiwan's TFT-LCD production soared to become the world's second largest last year, behind only South Korea's, Chen said, adding that production is expected to further surge this year to gain 40.6 percent of global market share and surpass South Korea.
Meanwhile, Chen said, the Southern Taiwan Science-based Industrial Park, already the locomotive of industrial development in southern Taiwan, is becoming one of the driving forces pushing Taiwan's overall economic growth to a new high.
The southern science park, Chen said, is forecast to have a workforce of 100,000 people who will create NT$1 trillion worth of production and services by 2009.
Chen added that his promise made during his 2000 presidential election campaign on the building of another major science-based park in central Taiwan will be delivered soon.
With the development of the central Taiwan science-based industrial park, he said, a new industrial lifeline throughout Taiwan is being formed, which will in turn redouble the country's industrial prowess and bolster its business strength.