Feb. 8, 2002 – Hsinchu, Taiwan – Total revenues from hi-tech companies at Taiwan’s Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park posted the first ever annual decline in 2001, park administration said.

Sales from the 312 companies in the park totaled T662.5 billion ($18.92 billion), down 28.7% from 2000, reported Agence France Presse.

But the administration expected sales from the park’s companies to improve in 2002 to some T800 billion, it said.

“The information industry in the park had hit the bottom in August and September,” the park administration said. “In the future, the market for global semiconductor foundries would expand and the local microchip industry would move up in tandem with a recovery in the global economy.”

The annual decline in revenues was largely due to slumps in semiconductor and computer industries, it said.

Sales from the semiconductor sector, which accounted for 60% of the park’s output, plunged 35% year-on-year to T376.9 billion in 2001.

Revenues from computer and peripherals companies in the northern Taiwan park slid 25% to T161.1 billion, while sales from optoelectronics companies dropped 22% to T62.4 billion, and the precision machines sector edged down 2% to T4.8 billion.

The falls in semiconductor, computer, optoelectronics industries offset the growth posted by the biotech and communications sectors in the park which rose 18% and 11% respectively.

However, signs of recovery have emerged as the number of employees in the park totaled 96,362 in December, up 4% from August.