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DIGITIMES, established in 1998, is a unique information
source for readers who need to know about the supply side of the semiconductor,
electronics, computer and communications industries. Daily coverage of
Taiwan's IT companies and news from China and other regions provide a
lifeline to industry professionals, channel players, investment analysts
and media around the world.
Through the " "
Traditional Chinese newspaper and website,
DIGITIMES reaches more than 100,000 professionals in more than 1,300 IT-related
companies in Taiwan every working day. The DIGITIMES English website adds
a global flavor with around 30,000 visitors every day, 60% from North
America, 19% from Asia and 15% from Europe.
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Contacts/Officers |
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Publisher and chairman: Ken Tai
President: Colley Hwang
COO and chief editor: Morris Lo
Editorial director (Chinese): Henry Chen
Managing editor (English): Michael McManus
Marketing director: Chih-Feng Chen
Subscription director (Chinese): Frank Wei
Subscription manager (English): Sylvia Wu |
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| Traditional Chinese media |
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DIGITIMES Traditional Chinese newspaper.
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Every working day, the ""
(DIGITIMES) Traditional Chinese newspaper delivers around 100 news
stories to Taiwan's IT industry. With a daily circulation of about
65,000 copies, over 45,000 daily email newsletters and the digitimes.com.tw
and member.digitimes.com.tw
websites providing content to over 150,000 unique visitors each
month, no other publication has a similar focus or comparable reach
into the supply side of the world's IT industry. The content of
the newspaper and websites consists of sections devoted to news
for computers and peripherals, semiconductors, optoelectronics,
IT, communications, networking and software.
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DIGITIMES website geographic readership
breakdown. |
Chinese email readership breakdown
by industry. |
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| English media |
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Founded in 2000, two years after the Chinese-language
newspaper and website, the English-language website bridges
cultural and language gaps and tells the world what's happening
in Taiwan's hi-tech industry. About 300,000 visitors each month
demonstrate the importance of Taiwan's industry and the unique reach
that DIGITIMES has developed. Unlike most media, only about 10%
of the readers of the English-language edition are "local." Just
under 50% of DIGITIMES' readers are based in North America and around
15% are from Europe. |
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DIGITIMES readership breakdown
by region. |
English-language email newsletter
readership breakdown by position. |
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Broad channel penetration is guaranteed,
with readers from all the world's major distributors of electronics
components and IT products. All the leading IT brands read DIGITIMES
to find out what's affecting prices and where the various industries
are heading. International semiconductor companies look to DIGITIMES
for news about their top customers and competitors, while brokers
and investors try to map company performance from DIGITIMES news.
In addition, with news partners around the world and other media
tracking daily leads from DIGITIMES, DIGITIMES has become the world's
most often cited English-language, Asian IT daily news source.
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DIGITIMES Computex show daily.
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There is no regular English print edition,
but DIGITIMES produces show dailies for the Computex computer show
at the beginning of June and the Semicon show in mid-September.
For advertising opportunities in these publications, please contact
your sales representative. |
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Membership, research & conference services |
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In addition to publishing newspapers and
websites, DIGITIMES has an active conference program and research
group. In Taiwan, DIGITIMES has over 1,300 member companies. Various
levels of membership are available, and these provide access to
the DIGITIMES news archive, preferential booking for events and,
for the higher levels of membership, access to DIGITIMES Research
reports. The DIGITIMES English website also offers access to its
news database and industry overviews through a more limited membership
program that has attracted around 850 members.
In 2004, DIGITIMES organized about 40 events,
with 33 organized on behalf of other organizations. The events included
CEO roundtables with around 60 attendees, seminars with up to 750
attendees, and multiple-day events coinciding with major trade shows
in Taiwan.
DIGITIMES Research employs 15 analysts
covering technology trends and the displays, systems and communications
industries. In addition to presenting at conferences, DIGITIMES
Research publishes weekly the Chinese-language "FPD Report" and
"ICT Report." About a third of the work produced by DIGITIMES Research
is proprietary research sponsored by government and commercial organizations. |
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Taiwan's world-leading economy |
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Of the 102 countries surveyed by the World
Economic Forum's The Global Competitiveness Report 2003-2004, Taiwan
was ranked fifth, following Finland, the US, Sweden and Denmark.
One place ahead of Singapore, the island of 23 million people was
ranked as Asia's most competitive economy, well ahead of Japan at
11, South Korea at 20 and China at 44.
For 2004 as a whole, Taiwan's real GDP
expanded 5.71% to NT$10.3 trillion (around US$320 billion). Domestic
demand contributed 5.69 percentage points to the change in real
GDP, with net exports contributing 0.02 percentage points. With
moderate growth in the world economy forecast for 2005, Taiwan's
growth is expected to slow to 4.21% with 2005 GDP estimated by the
government to reach NT$10.8 trillion. Exports counted in the GDP
totaled NT$6.8 trillion, exceeding imports of NT$6.3 trillion by
about 6%. |
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The all-important IT and semiconductor
industries
The engine for Taiwan's growth over the
last 25 years has been the island's high-tech industries. In 2004,
Taiwan manufacturers produced IT hardware products valued at over
US$67 billion and semiconductors worth almost US$20 billion. In
addition to leading the world in the production of over 10 different
IT products, such as notebooks and LCD monitors, the island is also
number one for semiconductor foundry and packaging services and
mask-ROM production.
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Taiwan output of IT and networking hardware |
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Product |
2004 (bn NT$) |
2004 (m units) |
2005 (m units) |
Global share |
Global rank |
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Notebook PC |
21.8 |
33.4 |
41.50 |
72.4% |
1 |
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Desktop PC |
9.4 |
34.7 |
36.63 |
29.2% |
N/A |
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Motherboard |
6.2 |
108.0 |
112.35 |
78.3% |
1 |
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Server |
1.8 |
2.1 |
2.43 |
32.8% |
2 |
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LCD monitor |
14.4 |
45.7 |
63.92 |
67.6% |
1 |
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CDT monitor |
3.5 |
35.3 |
26.01 |
53.6% |
1 |
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Optical disc drive |
3.5 |
105.8 |
116.33 |
41.7% |
2 |
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Digital camera |
2.0 |
21.2 |
23.91 |
34.5% |
2 |
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Switch |
0.7 |
129.6 |
149.00 |
59.0% |
1 |
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Router |
0.7 |
16.6 |
18.19 |
89.2% |
1 |
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Cable modem |
0.5 |
12.0 |
14.56 |
66.3% |
1 |
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xDSL CPE |
1.1 |
32.8 |
40.11 |
70.9% |
1 |
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WLAN product |
1.3 |
61.3 |
104.10 |
83.0% |
1 |
Source: MIC, compiled by DIGITIMES, March 2005.
With its limited resources, Taiwan has
not achieved all this alone. In 2004, only 9.3% of Taiwan's output
was produced on the island, while 78% was produced in China. Shipments
follow the IT industry, with 29.8% to the US, 28.2% to the EU, 12.3%
to Asia Pacific, 7.6% to Japan, 11.2% to China, 4.1% domestically,
and 6.8% to other regions.
To continue growing, Taiwan is actively
repositioning itself as an R&D and financial center with close China
ties. |
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Enterprise structure
According to Taiwan's Department of Reconstruction
(MOEA), Taiwan had over 602,000 registered companies in 2004. Other
associations give figures of just over a million companies, but
all agree that the vast majority (over 98%) are small to medium-size
enterprises. Around 7,000 of Taiwan's companies participate directly
in the IT industry and about 1,300 of these are publicly declared
companies that are already trading or wish to be traded on the island's
stock exchanges. Over 400 of these are listed on the main Taiwan
Stock Exchange (TSE), over 300 on the Over-the-Counter (OTC) market
and over 200 on the Emerging Stock Board (ESB).
When the bulk of Taiwan's production was
handled on the island, companies grew up in clusters, creating a
vertically-integrated supply chain that became Taiwan's global
advantage. As production has shifted to China, Taiwan has reproduced
the clusters, first in the south in Guandong Province and then near
Shanghai, Beijing and in other areas. However, Taiwan's government
has controlled the move west and retained leading edge technology
in Taiwan. A major part of this leading edge technology is contributed
by Taiwan's semiconductor and displays industries. To promote these
two industries, Taiwan formulated a "Two trillion, Twin star" project
that aims to encourage them to grow to NT$1.59 trillion (almost
US$50 billion) and NT$1.37 trillion (almost US$43 billion), respectively,
by 2006. A separate plan aims to promote the island's telecom industry
to become a billion US$ business by 2008.
The best known "cluster" in Taiwan is the
Hsinchu Science Park (HSP). Founded in 1980, this park now hosts
over 370 companies and generates around NT$80 billion (over US$2.5
billion) in sales from high-tech industries each month. Over two-thirds
of this amount is now from semiconductors.
Following success of the HSP, the government
established the Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP) in Tainan in
1995. Beginning operations in July 1997, this park opened an "extension"
in Kaohsiung, about 30km away, in 2001. In 2004, STSP generated
average sales of almost NT$13 billion (over US$400 million) each
month from January to October. Over 65% of this came from optoelectronics
production.
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Sales generated by Taiwan's science parks (NT$ billion) |
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Sector |
HSP |
STSP |
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Firms |
Oct-04 YTD |
2003 |
Firms |
Oct-04 YTD |
2003 |
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ICs |
159 |
493.8 |
563.3 |
9 |
68.6 |
60.9 |
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IT hardware |
57 |
91.6 |
134.8 |
2 |
0.7 |
0.1 |
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Telecom |
53 |
40.4 |
56.5 |
10 |
0.7 |
0.7 |
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Opto |
60 |
88.4 |
94.3 |
23 |
143.3 |
89.7 |
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Precision Machinery |
21 |
5.8 |
5.8 |
12 |
3.5 |
3.3 |
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Biotech |
27 |
1.6 |
1.8 |
11 |
1.0 |
0.5 |
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Total |
377 |
721.7 |
856.5 |
67 |
217.7 |
155.2 |
Source: Science park administrations, compiled by DIGITIMES, March 2005. |
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