Kaohsiung to Become the World's Highest-valued Semiconductor Industry Cluster

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kaohsiung City’s mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) laid out the policy priorities of his administration after he officially took office, which includes accelerating industrial transformation and boosting employment, investing up to NT$498.1 billion as of April 2022. It has attracted investors such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), WIN Semiconductors Corp., Merck Group, and others, to invest in major projects with an aim to connect the Southern Taiwan Science Park, Ciaotou Science and Technology Park, Renwu Industrial Park, and Nanzih Technology Industrial Park to form a semiconductor corridor, which is expected to drive the transformation of the industry.

Kaohsiung City Government predicts that TSMC’s arrival will bring more job opportunities for research and development as well as design talents, and the semiconductor industry chain will gradually take shape within 5 years. The overall investment will create more than 45,000 jobs in five years, promoting the development of tertiary sectors such as business and service industries, and increasing the overall wage level.

Nanzih Technology Industrial Park is situated on the site of the former Kaohsiung Refinery owned by the CPC Corporation. The factory site passed the city’s environmental impact assessment in April this year, and a plant construction license has been granted to TSMC in May. The construction of public facilities and TSMC’s new factory in the industrial park is scheduled to commence in June. The project is expected to create 1,500 jobs and NT$157.6 billion in annual production value when it begins operations in July 2023.

Besides land, water, and electricity resources, talent cultivation is a key factor for success in the semiconductor industry. For this reason, the Kaohsiung City Government joined forces with the Academy of Innovative Semiconductor and Sustainable Manufacturing of National Cheng Kung University, which was established following the passing of the act for National Key Fields Industry-University Cooperation and Skilled Personnel Training, to offer training courses in five major professional fields such as chip design and semiconductor manufacturing at Kaohsiung’s 85 Sky Tower. In addition, the National Sun Yat-sen University has also been approved to establish the College of Semiconductor and Advanced Technology Research; the Institute of Advanced Semiconductor Packaging and Testing and the Institute of Precision Electronic Components have begun to recruit students, and cultivate talents preemptively so as to fulfill the needs of the semiconductor industry.

To establish the Southern semiconductor corridor, the Kaohsiung City Government is actively working with nearby top universities and the newly established School of Banking and Finance of the National Sun Yat-sen University to launch the Great South Talents Training Programs that are necessary for the semiconductor industry and peripherals, molding Kaohsiung into the world’s most valuable semiconductor industry cluster.