In 1980, Taiwan's first integrated circuit (IC) manufacturer, UMC, was spun-off from the R & D department at ITRI. Less than 20 years later, Taiwan is home to 38 IC production plants and is the world's fifth largest chip producer.
民國六十九年，台灣第一家 IC 公司聯華電子才由工研院的研發班底摸索著掛牌開張，不到二十年，台灣已經擁有大大小小共三十八座晶圓製造廠，成為全球第五大晶圓生產國。