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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS