Taipei, May 22 (CNA) The National Development Council (NDC) on Monday approved a NT$43 billion (US$1.40 billion) plan to expand the Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP) to Kaohsiung's Nanzih District.
The Nanzih site will have a total area of 175.3 hectares, which includes 29.83-hectares of land being used by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to build a new wafer plant in the southern Taiwan city, according to the NDC.
The site, which used to house a naphtha cracking plant owned by state-owned oil refiner CPC Corp., Taiwan, will become a science park to meet future demand for advanced semiconductor manufacturing, STSP Director-General Su Chen-kang (蘇振綱) said.
The 29.83-hectare site that will host TSMC's new wafer plant will be incorporated into the STSP this year, while the remaining 145 hectares of land will become part of the southern science park after a second environmental impact assessment is completed by 2025, Su said.
Other manufacturers can begin to move into the Nanzih park by then, he said.
Su said the goal for the future science park in Nanzih is to accommodate both software and hardware companies.
The STSP currently consists of the Tainan Science Park and the Kaohsiung Science Park.
