On Dec. 14, the Ministry of the Interior announced that Tainan Science Park Phase III will be located at Xinshi in Tainan City and relevant urban plans have also been ratified. On the same day, the Board of UMC passed the company’s capital budget proposal and plans to invest private capital in the 12A fab P6 site of Tainan Science Park. According to the Tainan City Government Bureau of Urban Development, Tainan Science Park Phase III will be built near National Highway No. 8 and the north orbital expressway. The location is easily accessible and is expected to carry over the high-tech industry momentum at Southern Taiwan Science Park.
The Tainan Science Park Phase III project covers a total area of 84.5 hectares, including 38.9 hectares for factories. It is expected to attract more upstream and downstream semiconductor industries to locate in Tainan. The project is expected to host four major industry clusters: semiconductors, smart machinery, precise healthcare, and industry innovation, and will be linked with surrounding industry zones such as Xinshi Industrial Park and Madou Industrial Park.
In 2019, Mayor Huang Wei-che lobbied for the opportunity to keep Tainan Science Park Phase III in Tainan and the notion was supported by Premier Su Tseng-Chang. After the official ratification was announced, semiconductor industries showed more interest in investing in Tainan and the semiconductor industry cluster gradually grew with the additional support of Tainan’s utility policies in Tainan. Currently, the factory-use land occupancy rate at Phase I and II of Tainan Science Park is over 99% and the total number of employees exceeds 80,000 people. Both have reached their maximum capacity and require expansion of the Park to maintain growth momentum.