Hsinchu, Taiwan

🇹🇼 Hsinchu (新竹) is a city in Taiwan. Hsinchu is the 7th largest city in Taiwan by population, and the largest not to be a special municipality. Hsinchu is a windy coastal city bordering the Taiwan Strait to the west, Hsinchu County to the north and east, and Miaoli County to the south.

The area was settled by Taiwanese indigenous peoples, with the settlement bearing the Hokkien name Tek-kham. The city was founded by Han settlers in 1711, and was renamed to its current form in 1878. During the Japanese Era, the city was made the seat of Shinchiku Prefecture, named after the city. The Republic of China regained control of Hsinchu after World War II.

In 1980, the Taiwanese government established the Hsinchu Science Park, a major industrial park, currently one of the world's most significant centres for semiconductor manufacturing, industrial and computer technology development. The park contributes a major proportion of Taiwan's GDP. This made Hsinchu a vital economic hub for the world-wide semiconductor industry; the headquarters of TSMC, world's largest independent semiconductor foundry, and United Microelectronics Corporation, are both located in the park.

Besides its industry, Hsinchu is also an important cultural centre of Taiwan. The Chenghuang Temple of Hsinchu, built during the Kingdom of Tungning, is a common prayer destination. The research institutions of National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University and National Tsing Hua University are both located near the science park.

Economy The Hsinchu Science Park is home to 360 high tech companies. As a result, the city has the highest income level in Taiwan.

The purpose of the park is to attract high tech investment to Taiwan and to make the area the economic centre for the information industry. The park is designed to cater for high quality R&D, production, work, life and also recreation. From its establishment in 1978, the government has invested over NT$30 billion on software and hardware ventures. In 2001, it developed 2.5 km² (0.97 sq mi) of land in the park and 0.5 km² (0.19 sq mi) in southern Hsinchu, attracting 312 high-tech companies' investments. Viewing the performance of Hsinchu Science Park in the past 21 years, it can be said that it holds a decisive position in the economic development in Taiwan, with international acclaim.

Although the semiconductor and related electronic businesses have been doing well, they face fierce competition from South Korea and the United States. This has resulted in lower profits and over-supply of some electronic products such as memory and semiconductors. Therefore, manufacturers, government, academia, and the R&D sectors all recognise the challenges faced by Taiwan's high-tech development. The government has endeavoured to upgrade Hsinchu Science Park into a global manufacturing and R&D centre of high-end products. They also plan to intensify the co-operation among the manufacturing, academic, and research sectors by introducing incubation centres, in order to elevate the technological standard in the park. Further, through the development of the northern, central, and southern industrial park and its satellite sites, it hopes to sow the seeds of high tech business in all of Taiwan, leading to a vigourous era of high tech development.