Hsinchu Science Park

Hsinchu Science Park was established by the Taiwanese government on 15 December 1980 as the country's first science-based industrial park, built to concentrate semiconductor and electronics R&D and manufacturing around National Tsing Hua and National Chiao Tung universities. It has since expanded to six campuses covering 1,471 hectares.

As of December 2024 the park hosted 584 companies employing 177,389 workers (October 2024), including TSMC and United Microelectronics Corporation — the world's two largest dedicated semiconductor foundries. Combined park revenue reached NT$1.51 trillion (roughly US$46 billion) in 2024, up 6.66% year-on-year, according to Taiwan's National Science and Technology Council.

By concentrating chip design, fabrication and equipment firms next to research universities, 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. The main caveat is that reported figures describe aggregate industry output and headcount rather than an independent evaluation of how much of that activity is directly attributable to university knowledge transfer versus general semiconductor-market growth.

Read the full analysis: https://web.sipa.gov.tw/english/Statistics