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AN UPDATE ON COMPUTING ACTIVITIES

IN TAIWAN

Visits to the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Hsinchu
Science Park, and the National Center for High Performance Computing
and attendance at the Intelligent Signal Processing and Communication
Systems Workshop (ISPACS'92), all in Taiwan, are described.

by David K. Kahaner

INTRODUCTION

My earlier Scientific Information Bulletin articles on Taiwan ["Computing in Taiwan," 16(2), 23-29 (1991); "Various Computing Activities in Taiwan,” 17(2), 9-14 (1992)] should be referred to for additional background. This visit covered two new sites.

Taiwan, the Republic of China (ROC), has an impressive record of economic growth and now has more than $80B in foreign reserves in its coffers. With all this ready cash the country has been trying to find intelligent opportunities for investments. Some examples of these follow.

One of the most highly publicized is an attempt by Taiwan Aerospace to purchase 40% of the U.S.'s McDonnell Douglas Corporation for $2B. Taiwan Aerospace was created in 1991 with both public and private capital. The deal is not yet final, and there have been hitches both political and financial, but if it goes through it will give Taiwan an important role in the rapidly growing Asian air travel market, as well as giving the country more experience in high technology manufacturing and aerospace technologies.

The Taiwanese Chi Mei Industrial Company is planning to build an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resin plant in Houston, Texas, which will

make it one of the largest manufacturers of this product in the United States. It is estimated that the project will cost $300M.

Members of Taiwan's Nationalist Party have offered to lend mainland China (PRC) $10B if an agreement can be reached on various political concessions. Relationships between ROC and PRC are complicated. Governments both in Taiwan and in Beijing claim sovereignty over all of China, including Taiwan, and have vowed to reunify the country one day. In fact, efforts to formally separate the countries have repeatedly been rejected by both governments. Economic ties between the two sides have been growing rapidly since political tensions began to ease in the late 1980s.

As has been repeatedly reported, China is moving to expand its economic base, especially in south China, by setting up various free trade zones. Small businesses in these areas have a rapidly growing trade activity with neighboring countries. For example, a $25B free trade zone is to be built on Hainan Island, modelled on Hong Kong. The 15-year project [Yangpu Economic Development Zone] will get an infusion of $20-25B from a company that is 35% owned by the Japanese construction company Kumagai Gumi. Other foreign investors are being invited to

join the project. A free trade zone in China means that there will be no restrictions on remitting foreign currencies in and out of the zone, and foreign investors will be allowed to trade directly with Chinese manufacturers, but will still have to go through state-owned trading companies in other parts of China. PRC government officials hope to make Hainan, whose construction begins this year, the first of 10 Hong Kong like enclaves along its southern coast. Taiwan is especially well poised to take advantage of this because of its common language. Ministry of Economic Affairs tallies show that Taiwan business poured more than $820M into mainland China between 1987 and 1991. In fact, the actual amount would be much higher if illegal investments were included. Further, there are various special economic tax incentives to encourage Taiwanese investment. There are some ups and downs, however. For example, the Formosa Plastics Group (one of the world's largest) was planning to build a multibillion dollar naphtha cracking plant in Haicang. The project is now on hold. There may be some economic reasons, but political questions have entered, too. Some critics charge that such an investment would strengthen mainland China economically and would therefore be inappropriate until Beijing renounces taking

Taiwan by force. Others reply that Taiwanese investors would gain a larger say in bargaining with mainland authorities by forging economic alliances.

The main economic powerhouse in Asia, Japan, has its own problems dealing with China. Although Japan is Beijing's largest foreign aid donor, and relations between the countries are improving, repeated comments from Chinese officials make it clear there are still many subliminal memories on the Chinese side concerning Japanese activities in China during the 1930s and 1940s.

Another example of the use of Taiwan's purchasing power is the participation by Taiwanese firms in a consortium to buy the transmission division of General Motors Corp. In this case, though, the ROC contribution would be very modest, slightly more than $1M. But the fact that the Indianapolis City Council wrote ROC's Ministry of Foreign Affairs asking Taiwan to take part in the consortium to buy the division is indicative of the economic clout available.

At the same time that Taiwan is using its financial muscle to purchase technology, it is also trying to encourage foreign technological investment, which has lagged in the past year. For example, a group of Taiwanese aerospace, computer, and biotech specialists will be in the United States in May 1992 (headed by the Vice Economic Affairs Minister) to help forge alliances between local ROC firms and U.S. high tech companies.

Taiwan's foreign reserves also mean that it has trade conflicts with other countries. There are ongoing talks between Taiwan and the United States about voluntary restraint on export of ROC machine tools. At the same time Taiwan runs almost a $10B trade deficit with Japan and has imposed various discriminatory measures against the importation of Japanese goods.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN TAIWAN

Taiwan's President controls the Executive Yuan (much like a Cabinet department in the United States). The latter has set up the Research Devellatter has set up the Research Development & Evaluation Commission (RDEC), which plays a key role in defining high technology directions. Another important organization is the National Science Council (see my earlier report). Long range effort in R&D rests with the universities and the National Academia Sinica.

RDEC has a status equal to other ministries under the Executive Yuan, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. RDEC focuses on policy research, planning, control and evaluation of policy implementation, information systems management, and government publications. Each year RDEC reviews publications. Each year RDEC reviews country-wide and world-wide developments and selects 15-20 research projects of importance to the country's development. Recommendations are presented to the Premier for final selection and then assigned to an appropriate agency for execution. There is also the National Administrative Information Systems Plan, which includes a department dedicated to the information systems peculiar to science and technology (S&T) development.

The main funding source is the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC), also part of the Executive Yuan. NSC is charged with planning and coordinating national S&T development. It has a number of divisions, including Natural Sciences, Engineerincluding Natural Sciences, Engineering, Life Sciences, Humanities, Science Education, International Programs, and others. In 1986 NSC drafted a 10-year development plan to run through 1995. The plan added programs in environThe plan added programs in environmental protection, hazard mitigation, synchrotron radiation, and oceanography to eight areas already identified:

energy, production automation, information sciences, materials, electrooptics, biotechnology, hepatitis control, and food science. The 1991 budget was $240M, and budget growth has been almost 24% for the past few years. In basic science, the funds are spent mostly on surface physics, superconductivity, trace analysis methodology, biotechnology, science education, and information science. NSC also operates the Hsinchu Science Based Industrial Park (see below).

There are two interconnected educational systems in Taiwan, one for general education and the other for technical and vocational education. Nationally administered examinations allow progress from one level to another, including examinations for prospective college students that determine the curriculum and level at which they will study. While there are some private educational institutions, most students attend public schools.

HSINCHU SCIENCE-BASED INDUSTRIAL PARK (HSIP)

My host at HSIP was

Ms. Yvonne Chen
Promotion Representative
National Science Council, Science
Park Administration

2 Hsin Ann Road
Hsinchu, Taiwan 30077, ROC
Tel: +886-35-773311

Fax: +886-35-776-222

Ms. Chen gave me a general tour and overview. We did not go into any of the facilities, so my comments below are based on observations and reading.

HSIP is Taiwan's first such industrial park. It is located in the city of Hsinchu in north-central Taiwan, about three-quarters of an hour from Taiwan's international airport and about 1 hour from Taipei. Hsinchu has two universities, National Tsing Hua and National

Chiao Tung, as well as several research institutes, including the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, see below) and the Food Research Institute. HSIP was established in 1980 to help foster the development of high tech industries in Taiwan. In the past 4 years ROC's Government has invested over $300M, including public utilities, services, residences, schools, etc. Private investment is 30/70% abroad/local, and HSIP companies average about 6% of sales in R&D.

HSIP currently occupies about 400 hectares, with another 120 hectares scheduled to be developed within the next 5 years. There are 135 companies using leased or owned space in the park. Various industry types are represented, as follows.

• Computers & Peripherals (44 companies): Systems, storage devices, input/output (I/O) devices, computer communications, computer-aided design (CAD) equipment, software.

Semiconductors (35 companies) (fastest growing): Integrated circuit (IC) materials, design, manufacturing, packaging, and testing.

• Telecommunications (23 companies): Telephones, modems, systems, microwave components, optical fiber systems

• Automation (12 companies): Computerized numerical control (CNC) equipment, robots, high-pressure water cutting systems, vacuum generators, casts, surface treatment services

• Optoelectronics (16 companies): Optical disk drives, diodes, optical system components

• Biotechnology (4 companies): Vaccines, diagnostic kits, medical equipment

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Taiwan's 1.3-GeV Synchrotron Radiation Research Center is located in HSIP, and construction is underway for the National Center for High Performance Computing (see below, and formance Computing (see below, and earlier reports).

Presently, about 23,000 people work at HSIP and of these about 4,000 live in apartments and houses on HSIP property. My host told me that there were about 1,000 Western managers, engineers, and technicians working at HSIP, but I think that this number is very heavily dominated by those of Chinese origin holding Western passports. I had no opportunity to meet with any Westerners, and I think that step would be an essential part of any decision about visiting HSIP for an extended period. In any case there is an attractive and modern public school on the grounds with a bilingual teaching program in English and Mandarin through high school, and this would be an important asset for visiting scientists with families. HSIP is somewhat like a small, selfcontained town, with restaurants, banks, post office, tennis and basketball courts, swimming pool, and man-made lake.

There are special incentives to investors of HSIP, including various tax waivers, holidays, access to venture capital, low interest loans, and government grants. In addition, there are attractive capital repatriation opportunities. The park's administration can handle import/export licenses, bonding, warehousing, shipping, etc. An interesting feature of the park is the presence of basic factory buildings that can be set up quickly for manufacturing and laboratory space.

ROC would like to develop HSIP into Taiwan's Silicon Valley. Plans are in print to expand the park to 900 hectares and 50,000 people, as well

as annual turnover of 215 billion New Taiwan Dollars, which would be 10% of the country's gross national industrial turnover by 1996. These estimates might be optimistic, but there is no doubt that the park is a success. While some companies have failed, the buildings are mostly full, and there is a long waiting list for vacant space.

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE (ITRI)

ITRI is a few minutes drive from HSIP and still within the city of Hsinchu. It is situated on a modern, green, spacious campus. My host was

Mr. Peter F.C. Wang Director of Computer System Technology Division Computer & Communication Research Laboratory

ITRI

Taiwan, ROC

Tel: +886-35-917301, -942602
Fax: +886-35-917503
E-mail: fcw@x1sun5.ccl.itri.org.tw

ITRI is a 5,400-person facility founded in 1973 as a private institute by funding from the Taiwanese Government. There are about 3,500 scientific staff members, about 350 Ph.D. holders, and 1,750 master's graduates. ITRI is focused on developing innovative technologies for new industries and integrating technologies into existing industries. While its mission includes long term and medium term research, the emphasis is on activities that are seen to be relevant to national needs, with the hope of accelerating development of industrial technology. ITRI receives about two-thirds of its 9.5 billion New Taiwan Dollar revenue from the ROC Government through projects, which are then transferred to the industrial sector. The remaining revenue is from private contracts to work on specific processes or products or to provide technical services. ITRI is also

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