TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s Ministry of Economics announced on Friday (Jan. 28) the total revenue for national science parks exceeded NT$3 trillion (US$107.72 billion) in 2020, representing almost 20 percent of the country’s total manufacturing revenue.

There are 1,218 factories located inside Taiwan’s science parks, making up just 1.3 percent of the total number spread across the country, which numbers 97,400, according to a CNA report.

Considering the overall revenue for factories in all of Taiwan in 2020 was NT$16.6 trillion, the revenue generated by vendors inside science parks makes up 19.8 percent of the total.

These three science parks take up only 5,398 hectares, or 0.1 percent of Taiwan’s territory. Though physically small, they have formed important industrial clusters in Taiwan’s northern, central and southern regions.

Taiwan’s government has promoted the development of the parks over five decades, guiding their evolution from being initially focused on labor-intensive industries to later becoming high-tech hubs. Over time, the parks have come to play an outsized role as growth engines of Taiwan’s manufacturing sector, per CNA.