Taiwan to make it in the digital content contest

This article was written by Graham Norris and published by the Taiwan Journal on September 16, 2005. It features Taiwan's attempt and achievements in recent years in building up its digital content industry.

Digital content industry and biotechnology industry are the new "twin stars" of Taiwan's economic development. The government defines digital content industry as including fields such as network services, mobile service applications and archiving, as well as games and animation.

In 2003, the digital content industry in Taiwan was worth US$5.9 billion in 2003. It is hoped that this figure will increase to over US$11.5 billion in 2006.

Currently, about 47 percent of households in Taiwan have broadband Internet connections.

This article further focuses on Taiwan's animation industry and PC-based games industry, particularly online games and multi-player role-playing games. Attempts are made for Taiwanese companies to perform on the international stage. This article provides great details on the challenges faced by Taiwanese companies as they try to compete against Japanese, South Korean and other European and American companies.