The Taiwan Miracle

Considered to be very poor in the 1950s, Taiwan is now a symbol of prosperity in Asia. The speed of its growth has lead to it being nicknamed “the economic miracle of Taiwan”.

SMEs are the pillars of its economy as one in seven Taiwanese owns a company. Indeed, they represent 97.6% of all companies and generate 77.12% of all employment.

In the last 40 years, Taiwan’s economic growth has been largely driven by foreign trade. Its exports are mostly (98%) industrial products, while initially it was principally agricultural products. For that matter, this sector now only generates 1.7% of GDP, while service industries contribute more than 73%.

Taiwan is recognized as a world leader in the ICT sector: 99% of server motherboards, 93% of cable modems, 87% of notebooks, 77% of LCD monitors and 70% of personal digital assistants (PDA) are made there (New Zealand Trade and Enterprise). Although most companies work on behalf of big international banners, they are promoting their own brand names more and more. Acer, ASUS, BenQ, Mitac and HTC are some of the most internationally recognized brands.