Taiwan, officially called the Republic of China (ROC), is already the leader in the manufacturing of high-tech devices and components. It supplies 90 percent of the world'€™s laptop computers and leads the world in designing microchips, meeting 70 percent of the global demand for them, to name a few examples.

But that has not dissuaded the territory of 23 million people from foregoing the appetite to reinvent itself to remain competitive against the global might of innovative countries like the US, Japan, South Korea and Germany.

Taiwan Photon Source (TPS), operated by state-run National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (NSRRC), is the nation'€™s latest and major scientific achievement when it commenced operation in January after a five-year construction costing US$223 million.

The facility, located inside the Hsinchu Science Park, produces one of the brightest synchrotron light sources in the world. The produced light is used to gather information about the structural and chemical compositions of materials at the molecular level.

'€œInformation obtained by scientists from the light can be used to help design new drugs, build smaller and more powerful computer chips, develop new materials for medical devices and advance nanotechnology,'€ said June-Rong Chen, the NSRRC technical director.

As the facility has yet to be completely adjusted, scientists cannot fully carry out advanced scientific experiments until next year, according to Chen.

The TPS is located next to the Taiwan Light Source, the first generation of a more-or-less similar facility built more than two decades ago.

'€œThe TPS will also assist high-technology industries in research and development of products that can in turn improve our country'€™s international competitiveness in a knowledge economy,'€ said Chen.

Popular

Volcano erupts in North Sulawesi, hundreds evacuated

Dubai roads, airport reel from floods after record rains

Ramadan boosts consumer confidence, retail sales