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Good practice Imported

Hsinchu Science Park

Taiwan · Hsinchu · See the Taiwan profile · See the Hsinchu profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 42% 71/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Taiwan's flagship semiconductor science park, home to TSMC and UMC — 584 companies employing 177,000+ workers generated NT$1.51 trillion (~US$46bn) in 2024 revenue, up 6.66% year-on-year.

1.51 NT$ trillion (~US$46 billion)
Combined park revenue (2024)
6.66 %
Year-on-year revenue growth (2024)
584 companies
Companies hosted (December 2024)
177,389 workers
Workers employed (October 2024)
1,471 hectares
Park area
Hsinchu Science Park

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Science Park Administration, National Science and Technology Council (Taiwan)
Period
1980–present
Keywords
Semiconductor & IC manufacturing, science park, optoelectronics, precision machinery, biotechnology

Context

Hsinchu Science Park was established by the Taiwanese government in December 1980 as the country's first science-based industrial park, built around National Tsing Hua and National Chiao Tung universities to concentrate semiconductor and electronics research and manufacturing.

Activities

The park has expanded to six campuses covering 1,471 hectares, hosting semiconductor, optoelectronics, precision-machinery and biotechnology firms alongside the two universities that anchor it.

Results

As of December 2024 the park hosted 584 companies employing 177,389 workers, including the world's two largest dedicated semiconductor foundries, TSMC and United Microelectronics Corporation, and generated combined revenue of roughly NT$1.51 trillion (about US$46 billion) in 2024, up 6.66% year-on-year.

Conclusions

Hsinchu became the template Taiwan later replicated at its Central and Southern science parks and is widely cited internationally as a model for university-anchored technology clusters, though the reported figures describe aggregate industry output rather than an independent assessment of how much activity is attributable specifically to university knowledge transfer versus general semiconductor-market growth.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Very high (> €5M)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
The park is run by Taiwan's Science Park Administration under the National Science and Technology Council, coordinating hundreds of tenant companies alongside the two anchor universities.

Conditions for success

  • Physical co-location of chip design, fabrication and equipment firms directly next to research universities.
  • Sustained multi-decade government backing enabling expansion from one park to six campuses.

Common failure modes

  • Reported revenue and employment figures measure aggregate industry activity rather than isolating the park's causal contribution versus broader semiconductor-market growth.

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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