Taiwan’s software industry will grow strongly in both domestic consumption and exports this year, according to a survey by the Institute for Information Industry. It predicted domestic software consumption would be $2.3bn, up 27% from 1997, while exports would be up 37% to $212m this year and up a further 42% next year. Output of the hardware sector of Taiwan’s IT industry, including overseas plants owned by Taiwanese companies, is predicted to grow by 11.4% this year to $33.6bn by the Institute for Information Industry, the lowest growth rate since 1994. Notebook computers will account for $8.4bn, up 26.9%; monitors for $7.5bn, down 5.2%; and desktop computers for $6.3bn, up 17%. But China and Taiwan may soon swap places in the international IT hardware production league both because of the rapid growth of China’s domestic industry and because more and more Taiwanese manufacturers are shifting their manufacturing operations to China. At present Taiwan is in third spot behind the US and Japan followed by Singapore, Britain, South Korea and China.
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