The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a plan to develop Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli County into a powerhouse for technology in a step toward implementing a key part of president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) platform.
This project — dubbed the “Taoyuan-Hsinchu-Miaoli great Silicon Valley plan” with an emphasis on integrated utilities and infrastructure — would receive NT$20 billion (US$634.54 million) from this year’s budget should lawmakers sign off on the appropriation.
The initiative is to go to the Legislative Yuan for debate.
Photo: Liao Hsueh-ju, Taipei Times
The proposed industrial zone is hoped to create 140,000 jobs and add NT$6 trillion to the economy, National Development Council Deputy Minister Kao Shien-quey (高仙桂) told a news conference.
The project’s cost cannot be accurately estimated at this time, as its medium and long-term costs remain unknown, Kao said.
The development of a national semiconductor industry is an issue of strategic importance, he said, citing foreign efforts to build tech clusters in Arizona, Japan’s Kyushu and Seoul.
The design of the planned industrial zone would emphasize domestic innovation in tech, creating a skilled workforce in the region and the infrastructure necessary for the sector’s development, Kao said.
Electricity and water supplies, transportation and communication capacities, healthcare, homes, schools and proper utilization of renewable energy are some of the issues the project needs to address, he said.
Water supplies for the zone would likely be drawn from New Taipei City’s Sanchong (三重) and Lujhou (蘆洲) districts, Taoyuan’s Shihmen Reservoir (石門水庫) and water reclamation plants, he said.
Solar and offshore wind farms, energy-storage systems, smart grid solutions, grid resilience improvements and reserves provided by dual-circuit power supplies would ensure a stable supply of energy, he said.
The planned Sinmeilung (新梅龍) and Banlong (板龍) highways in conjunction with expansions of light rail systems in Taoyuan and Hsinchu would ease traffic, while affordable housing and improved waste management in the zone would improve livability and sustainability, he said.
The Hsinchu Science Park would receive 1,605 hectares of additional land, he added.
Separately, the National Development Council proposed a four-year project dubbed the “Asian Silicon Valley 3.0 plan” with a first-year budget of NT$11.7 billion.
The Asian Silicon Valley plan would boost investment in innovative technologies, including 5G Internet, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, to enable Taiwanese solutions to access foreign markets, council officials said.
The two “Silicon Valley” plans are mutually supportive plans that are part of the government’s core strategic industries, sustainability and innovation policies, they said.
Police have issued warnings against traveling to Cambodia or Thailand when others have paid for the travel fare in light of increasing cases of teenagers, middle-aged and elderly people being tricked into traveling to these countries and then being held for ransom. Recounting their ordeal, one victim on Monday said she was asked by a friend to visit Thailand and help set up a bank account there, for which they would be paid NT$70,000 to NT$100,000 (US$2,136 to US$3,051). The victim said she had not found it strange that her friend was not coming along on the trip, adding that when she
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
The Civil Aviation Administration yesterday said that it is considering punishments for China Airlines (CAL) and Starlux Airlines for making hard landings and overworking their cabin crew when the nation was hit by Typhoon Kong-rey in October last year. The civil aviation authority launched an investigation after media reported that many airlines were forced to divert their flights to different airports or go around after failing to land when the typhoon affected the nation on Oct. 30 and 31 last year. The agency reviewed 503 flights dispatched by Taiwanese airlines during those two days, as well as weather data, flight hours
Three people have had their citizenship revoked after authorities confirmed that they hold Chinese ID cards, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said yesterday. Two of the three people were featured in a recent video about Beijing’s “united front” tactics by YouTuber Pa Chiung (八炯) and Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源), including Su Shi-en (蘇士恩), who displayed a Chinese ID card in the video, and taekwondo athlete Lee Tung-hsien (李東憲), who mentioned he had obtained a Chinese ID card in a telephone call with Chen, Liang told the council’s weekly news conference. Lee, who reportedly worked in