Cloud Computing Industry - Recommended Industries for Foreign Investment in Taiwan

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Recommended Industries for Foreign Investment in Taiwan

          (   Cloud Computing Industry

                ITRI IEK WEI, Yi-ling   | 2010      0   12 / 31!
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                                        E-mail:norr.wei@itri.org.tw

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Recommended Industries for Foreign Investment in Taiwan—Cloud Computing Industry

8 Cloud Computing Industry

 1-1 Industry Definition

   • Industry size: The international research firm Gartner predicts that the most important strategic
      technology in 2010 will be cloud computing with the market to grow to US$150 billion by
      2013.
   • Business take-up: Up to 80% of Fortune 1000 companies will adopt cloud computing services
      by 2012. The immense market potential as well as the entry of major international vendors
      such as Microsoft, Google and IBM means that everyone is now starting to pay attention to the
      potential economic benefits of cloud, as well as how it will affect the ICT industry in the
      future.
   • Scope of applications: Cloud computing is a concept rather than a specific technology. The
      concept can be applied to software applications, operating systems and even hardware
      architecture.
   • Cloud computing concept and features: There is currently no standard definition for cloud
      computing as it is a novel concept that is still developing along with the Internet and related
      technologies. Cloud incorporates existing technologies and concepts such as grid computing,
      parallel computing, virtualization and SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture), allowing it to be
      used in a wide range of applications. Despite the different definitions, some key features of
      cloud computing include Internet delivery of services as well as the on-demand allocation of
      resources and payment method.

 1-2 Market analysis

   • Size of the cloud services market: The market began growing rapidly in 2008 and will reach
      US$50 billion in size by 2013. SaaS services are expected to account for over 60% of the
      overall market due to user familiarity, the maturity of applications and compatibility with
      existing systems and architectures during implementation.
   • Industry growth factors and trends: Cloud computing will initially be introduced through SaaS
      services due to user familiarity, its relative maturity and data security. SaaS will therefore
      provide the main source of growth in the cloud services market within the short term. Due to
      concerns over service stability and data security, most of the growth in the IaaS and PaaS
      services market between 2008 and 2010 came from new startups and small users. Medium and
      large-sized enterprises still have concerns with the introduction of cloud services, so overall
      growth has slowed in 2010.

                                             .1.
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                      USD$
                      Billions
             60.00
                                                                                    50.70

             50.00
                                                                          42.14

             40.00
                                                                31.42
                                                                                                 SaaS
                                                      26.54
             30.00                                                                               PaaS
                                           17.66                                                 IaaS
             20.00               13.13

             10.00

               0.00
                           2008          2009      2010(e)    2011(f)   2012(f)   2013(f)

          Note: Here the output of the cloud computing services industry only covers those from IaaS, PaaS
               and SaaS services.

          Source: ITRI IEK (2010/04)

 Figure 1      Projected output of the global cloud computing services industry, 2008 - 2013

       • Business concerns: Enterprise users of different sizes exhibit different concerns during
          introduction. For small and medium enterprises, cost is the primary concern. For large
          enterprises, system compatibility, cloud service stability and the maturity of information
          security technologies are the most important considerations.
          Main customers: The immaturity of information security technologies will delay the entrance
          of large users, so the main market for cloud services will continue to be small and medium
          enterprises in the short term.

   (1) Size of the Taiwanese market and current demand

         Local industry background: DGBAS statistics for 2006 indicated that in Taiwan the industrial
   and commercial services sector consisted mainly of small and medium enterprises (SME) of under
   200 people. SMEs accounted for 99.7% of the overall industrial/commercial services industry. The
   nature off SMEs meant that local enterprises have significant experience with using hosting and
   remote backup services provided by data centers.
       • Cloud take-up rate among local enterprises: A survey conducted by the III MIC indicated that
          35% out of a sample of 500 SMEs have adopted cloud services. IaaS was used by 32.8% of the
          companies, 6.0% used SaaS services, while 3.8% used both IaaS and SaaS at the same time.

                                                              .2.
Recommended Industries for Foreign Investment in Taiwan—Cloud Computing Industry

     From this we can see that in the local cloud services market IaaS is now entering its growth
     phase, while SaaS is only beginning to take root.
  • Market size: Overall, the Taiwanese cloud market was estimated to be worth NT$5.56 Billion
     in 2009, an increase of 12.8% on 2008. By 2010 the market is expected to grow to NT$6.21
     billion in size.
  • Main market segments: The IaaS market will be the largest segment in the Taiwanese cloud
     services market and should account for over 90% of the industry output. The main reason for
     this is the high-level of acceptance to hosting and related services among local enterprises. As
     well-known enterprises continue to adopt SaaS services however, the SaaS market is expected
     to gradually increase its share among the local industry.

(2) Future market prospects

  • The services provided by the SaaS services market matches the needs of businesses. As there
     is also strong interest in its introduction among enterprises it is expected to provide the main
     source of growth in the cloud services market.
  • As the small size of the market and IT security concerns will affect the growth of the PaaS and
     IaaS market, most growth between 2008 and 2010 will come from new startups and small
     enterprise users.
  • As IT security and virtualization technologies continue to be refined, however, they should
     drive the growth of the overall cloud market after 2011.
  • The cost benefits of cloud services means that many SMEs will continue to cut back on
     hardware expenditure and adopt cloud services instead. The cloud services market is therefore
     expected to grow at a faster rate than the global IT spending market.

1-3 Analysis of Foreign/Compatriot Companies and Local Industry Synergies

(1) Current state of the global and Taiwanese industry supply chain

  • Industry scope: The cloud industry chain can be divided into three areas: data center, system
     platform and software. Data center includes the low-level hardware equipment vendor,
     virtualization technology vendor, system integrator, hardware system management vendor
     (software) and the data center operator; Platform covers the operating platform and the
     software development platform. Here, software mainly refers to commercial business
     software.
  • Data center: Includes hardware such as servers, network communications products and power
     supply. Leading international server equipment vendors including IBM, HP and Dell have
     maintained excellent OEM relations and close cooperation with Taiwanese hardware makers,
     so Taiwanese vendors excel in hardware manufacturing. Above the hardware level we have

                                               .3.
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          system integration and software. This includes system integration, virtualization software and
          virtual system management tools. Leading foreign international virtualization technology
          vendors include VMware, Microsoft and Citrix; In system integration the leading vendors are
          IBM, HP and VMware; For virtualization system management tools, this area is dominated by
          VMware and the software management tools provided by proprietary virtualization
          technology.
       • System platform: In the system platform segment, apart from the virtual Windows monopoly
          on PC operating systems, top foreign vendors include Oracle with Solaris, Google with
          Chrome and even the open-source Linux. The key vendors are therefore Microsoft, IBM,
          Oracle and Google.
       • Software: In commercial software, IBM, Microsoft and Oracle have remained the leaders in
          e-mail, word processing and database software. The coming of cloud has also seen Google and
          Salesforce.com rise to the fore, further consolidating the hold of foreign vendors in
          commercial software.
       • Current state of the Taiwanese industry: In the past, most local software vendors targeted the
          domestic market as well as providing system integration services and product sales for
          software products developed by foreign vendors. As a result, while the Taiwanese cloud
          industry chain excels at hardware manufacturing, as previously mentioned, there has been little
          local development in software technology and commercial software. Taiwan is therefore
          poorly equipped to compete against large foreign vendors in virtualization technology, virtual
          system management tools, operating system platforms or commercial software.
       • Current state of system integration in Taiwan: The industry consists mainly of SMEs and is
          relatively small. In 2009, only 3 companies had revenues of over NT$5 billion. In addition,
          most vendors service specific industries and so are unable to offer cross-industry IT consulting.
          Local system integration vendors also tend to be weak in business know-how so they can only
          help their customers connect hardware systems. They lack the ability to go a step further and
          help their customers set up systems that integrate software and business processes.

   (2) Analysis of gap in industry chain

       • General analysis: Local vendors enjoy a distinct advantage in hardware equipment but are
          weak in system software, applications software and system platforms. The extreme deficiency
          in virtualization and system management software technologies in particular constitutes the
          largest gap in the Taiwanese industry chain.
       • Capability gap: Due to a shortage of R&D capacity for virtualization technology, even if local
          vendors use open source for developing virtualization technology they will still find it hard to
          compete against top international vendors. For system integration, the biggest obstacles to

                                                  .4.
Recommended Industries for Foreign Investment in Taiwan—Cloud Computing Industry

     entering the international market are local vendors' small size and deficiency in business
     know-how. More experience or an expansion in the scale of services is required to boost
     competitiveness.
  • Suggested entry strategy: Given the commanding lead in software of international vendors,
     local vendors are not ready to compete with international vendors in the cloud services market.
     Instead, the industry should leverage its hardware advantages into partnerships with top cloud
     vendors; System integration ability should also be strengthened to gain a foothold in industries
     with potential for a boost to competitive advantage.

(3) Areas suitable for overseas/compatriot investment in Taiwan

  • R&D center: A complete hardware industry cluster and outstanding hardware manufacturing
     capability makes Taiwan the perfect OEM option for large cloud vendors building data centers.
     As cloud service vendors will need to customize the hardware based on the nature and
     requirements of the application services to achieve optimal performance, the leading vendors
     and their OEM partners will need to establish a strong R&D partnership.
  • Joint R&D center: Rapid growth in the cloud services market has seen cloud services vendors
     gradually shift their business focus from the US/European region to other regional markets in
     recent years. The Asia-Pacific in particular is considered by cloud services vendors to be a key
     future market. With large vendors setting up regional data centers in order to provide each
     region with a good quality of service, top international vendors will very probably set up data
     centers in the Asia-Pacific region as well. The high cost of building a data center makes it a
     very large investment, even for large international vendors. A partnership with local vendors
     in each region will not only help reduce the cost of investment but will also help them bypass
     foreign investment restrictions in each country. The complete IT hardware supply chain and
     liberal investment environment in Taiwan makes the island a particularly attractive investment
     destination for foreign businesses.

(4) Suggested investment recruitment targets

  • VMware: VMware's server software must be developed and tested with hardware vendor's
     support before release. Confirming that the hardware and software will run together smoothly
     will help boost sales. VMware also hopes to partner with software, hardware and IT consulting
     companies in the future to provide enterprise users with a total solution for converting their
     internal IT architecture over to a cloud architecture. To this end, a partnership with local
     hardware makers will play an important role.
  • IBM: IBM customers span different industries and there is also strong interest in introducing
     cloud among the enterprise customers in the healthcare and financial industries. IBM will
     therefore need to set up more applications-oriented R&D centers. IBM has also set up the

                                              .5.
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          "Smart Living Pioneering Research Center" in Taiwan in collaboration with the MOEA. In the
          future, the research center will combine IBM's cloud computing & data management analysis
          technologies with local research resources and manpower to develop cloud healthcare service
          models. The experience from demonstration applications in Taiwan will also be replicated for
          the Chinese market in the future.
       • Microsoft: In addition to offering the Windows Azure platform to its partners, Microsoft is
          also developing the Hyper-V virtualization technology as its spearhead for the cloud market.
          Microsoft wants to provide its customers with a complete solution, so that in addition to its
          virtualization technology, it is also helping data center operators accelerate data center
          construction by conducting R&D of data center hardware systems (e.g. cooling). Such a
          strategy for virtualization technology and data centers means that Microsoft will require
          hardware partners in R&D in the future.

   1-4 Analysis of Investment Incentives for Overseas/Compatriot Businesses

         R&D centers and data centers can be set as the main areas to target for attracting
   overseas/compatriot investment. Key investment factors include:

   (1)Cloud R&D center:

       • Industry cluster: A hardware and software industry cluster of sufficient size can help large
          vendors accelerate their joint R&D and product testing platform.
       • People: Includes experts in virtualization, parallel computing and mass storage technologies as
          well as local manpower costs.

   (2)Cloud data center:

       • Political/regulatory environment: Local IT security regulations and political stability affect the
          data processing operations of data centers.
       • Data center setup costs: Cost of industrial land, utility and manpower
       • Network infrastructure: Number of international undersea cables and local broadband
          penetration
       • Local vendor capability: The ability of local vendors to setup and operate data centers

   A. Current local availability

       a.Cloud R&D center:
        • Industry cluster:
           – A complete IT hardware and computer industry supply chain exists. Vendors have
              extensive manufacturing experience and technology, so a joint R&D center can be set up

                                                  .6.
Recommended Industries for Foreign Investment in Taiwan—Cloud Computing Industry

        for "product and application development".
      – The local software market is relatively small and comprises mainly small companies. The
        only software vendors capable of partnering with international vendors on software
        technology R&D are Trend-Micro and Cyberlink.
   • People: There is a shortage of domestic software expertise, though in terms of quality and
      cost, the people are very competitive.
  b.Cloud data center:
   • Political/regulatory environment: SACE rates the political risk of investing in Taiwan at 3
      (scored from 1 - 9, with higher score equaling higher risk). This indicates a good political
      environment for investment, though there is room for improvement in IT security-related
      legislation.
   • Data center setup costs: There are 7 major industrial parks with 1,535 ha of land available for
      sale or lease. Utility and manpower costs are far cheaper than Western nations.
   • Network infrastructure: Chunghwa Telecom alone has 16 undersea cables with 9 connected
      directly to Taiwan; Local broadband penetration has now reached 78%.
   • Local vendor capability: Local vendors such as ISPs and Acer have experience with running
      data centers, though the capability to setup and run data centers is critically low.

B. Comparison with other neighboring countries

  a. Cloud R&D center:
   • Industry cluster: Hong Kong < Singapore < China < Korea < Taiwan
   • People: Hong Kong < Singapore < Taiwan < South Korea < China
  b. Cloud data center:
   • Political/regulatory environment: China < Korea < Taiwan < Singapore < Hong Kong
   • Data center setup costs: Hong Kong < Singapore < Korea < Taiwan < China (with China
      being cheapest)
   • Network infrastructure: China < Hong Kong < Singapore < Taiwan < Korea
   • Local vendor capability: Hong Kong < Taiwan < China < Singapore/Korea

                                               .7.
New Opportunities. Invest in Taiwan

    1-5 Production Costs, Taxations, and Investment Incentives

    (1) Production Costs

        ¾Currently, there are 181 industrial parks, 9 export processing zones, 3 science parks, 6 free
         trade zones, 5 agricultural industrial parks and 4 environmental protection science parks in
         Taiwan. Also, the government provides quality and low cost business environment.
        ¾EPZs, SIPs, FTZs, Pingtung ABP, and bonded factories(warehouses) are all considered
         bonded areas(i.e., tariff-free areas), meaning that raw materials, fuel , articles, semi-processed
         goods or machinery imported from abroad are all exempt from imported from abroad are all
         exempt from import duties, Commodity Tax, and Sales Tax. Zero-rate Sales Tax is applied on
         commodities and labor services exported abroad and on raw materials, fuel, articles,
         semi-processed goods or machinery purchased from a tax zone.
 Types of Industrial
                                                             Descriptions
      Parks
                         ¾ Competent Authorities: National Science Council.
                         ¾ Main Location: Hsinchu Science Park, Central Taiwan Science Park, and
 Science Parks             Southern Taiwan Science Park.
                         ¾ Characteristics: Locations for development of high-tech industries. Promote
                           Taiwan industry upgrade.
                         ¾ Competent Authorities: Export Processing Zone Administration.
 Export Processing       ¾ Main Location: Taichung, Kaohsiung and Pingtung.
 Zones                   ¾ Characteristics: Develop the “cluster effects” of the key industries and the
                           cooperation of international marketing industry.
                         ¾ Competent Authorities: Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan, R.O.C.
 Agricultural            ¾ Main Location: Taichung, Kaohsiung and Pingtung.
 Biotechnology           ¾ Characteristics: Speed the development of industrial clusters in agricultural
 Parks                     biotechnology. Expand production of high value-added goods for export.
                           Become centers of high-tech agricultural industry.
                         ¾ Competent Authorities: Environmental Protection Administration, Executive
                           Yuan, R.O.C.
 Environmental           ¾ Main Location: Taoyuan, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Hualien.
 Protection Science      ¾ Characteristics: Seek out partners in the area of advanced environmental
 Parks                     protection technology from around the world for creating model zones of
                           low-polluting, high value-added industries that promote productivity livelihood,
                           and the ecology.
                         ¾ Competent Authorities: Ministry of Transportation and Communication
                         ¾ Main Location: Keelung, Kaohsiung, Taichung, Taipei, and Taoyuan.
 Free Trade Ports        ¾ Characteristics: Eliminate the barriers to the flow of goods, capital and people
                           in international trade. It is hoped that with the integration of the supply chain and
                           the convenience of harbors, enterprises can be more competitive.
                         ¾ Competent Authorities: Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic
                           Affairs.
                         ¾ Main Location: Most Main cities
 Industrial Parks        ¾ Characteristics: Provides manufacturers with sufficient lands, avoiding the
                           disturbances from the surrounding environment, boosting local economic
                           development with industrial clusters economic effect and creating high add value
                           production environment.

                                                    .8.
Recommended Industries for Foreign Investment in Taiwan—Cloud Computing Industry

  A. Land Rental Costs

     a. Hsinchu Science Park Rental Costs:
                                                                          Rental Cost Monthly
 Location                    Building Type/Floor
                                                                            m2          Ping(3.3m2)
                                                            1F             126              416
                                                            2F             119              390
              1. Standard Factory Building                  3F             110              363
                                                            4F             103              340
                                                            5F              98              323
              2. Intellectual Property Center                              188              620
                                                                    Main Building 197
                                                            1F                           650,600
  Hsinchu    3. High-Rise Factory Building                          Public Facility 182
Science Park                                              2F-7F            182              600
             4. Si-Soft Factory Building                                   182              600
                                                            1F             125              413
              5. Du-Xing Factory Building
                                                           2-5F            114              376
                                                            1F             147              485
                                                            2F             142              469
              6.Service Building
                                                            3F             138              455
                                                            4F             133              439
  Chunan     Standard Factory Building(First Phase)       1F-5F            125              413
Science Park Standard Factory Building(Second Phase)      1F-5F            125              413

     b. Southern Taiwan Science Park Rental Cost:

       y Land
 Tainan Science Park      Each month 23.49 NT$/m2 and additional 5% business tax.
Kaohsiung Science Park    Each month 11.21 NT$/m2 and additional 5% business tax.

       y Building
                          Five phases. Each floor area ranges from 750m2 to 946m2. The rental cost is
  Tainan Science Park
                          94-142 NT$/m2 monthly.
                          Two phases. Each floor area ranges from 960m2 to 2040m2. The rental cost is
Kaohsiung Science Park
                          91-120 NT$/m2 monthly

     c. Central Taiwan Science Park Rental Cost:
        Location                 Item                        Rental Cost (NT$/m2) Monthly
                                                       Land Only     Public Facility    Total
                                    Land
 Taichung Science Park                                   4.40            14.65          19.05
                                   Building                                88
  Huwei Science Park                Land                 2.67            12.91          15.58
  Houli Science Park                Land                 2.11             5.96           8.07
  Erlin Science Park                Land                 0.88               0            0.88

  B. Labor Costs

     ¾Taiwan has a high-quality labor force of approximately 10 million people, of whom 35% have
       college or university degrees or higher. Each year around 320,000 students graduate from its

                                                .9.
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         colleges and universities, filling the human resource needs of commerce and industry.
       ¾For person paid by the month, the minimum monthly wage required by law is NT$17,880; For
         person paid by the hour, the minimum hourly wage as set by law is NT$98/hr.
                                Industry                                            Average Salary(NT$)
 Mining and quarrying                                                                     49,674
 Manufacturing                                                                            39,152
 Electric power and gas supply                                                            95,996
 Water supply and remediation services                                                    44,234
 Construction                                                                             40,930
 Wholesale and retail                                                                     40,154
 Transportation and storage                                                               48,068
 Lodging, foods and beverages                                                             27,171
 Information and communications                                                           62,013
 Finance and insurance                                                                    67,513
 Real estate                                                                              38,720
 Professional, scientific, and technical services                                         49,969
 Support services                                                                         31,596
 Education services                                                                       22,195
 Human health and social work services                                                    54,072
 Arts, entertainment, and recreation services                                             31,257
 Other services                                                                           29,731
Source: Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics, Executive Yuan

    (2) Taxation

    A. Individual Income Tax Rate
      Income Tax Bracket (NT$)                      Tax Rate                 Progressive Different (NT$)
               0-500,000                               5%                                0
           500,001-1,090,000                          12%                              35,000
          1,090,001-2,180,000                         20%                             122,200
          2,180,001-4,090,000                         30%                             340,200
               4,090,001                              40%                             749,200
Source: Ministry of Finance

    B. Business Income Tax Rate
      Income Tax Bracket (NT$)                                           Tax Rate
            120,000 and less                                         Exempt from tax.
          120,000 and higher                                    17% on the total taxable profit.
Source: Ministry of Finance

    (3) Investment Incentives & Administrative Support

    A. Tax incentives

       a. Industrial Innovation Act

         ¾ According to the「Industrial Innovation Act」, which was practiced in 2010, 15 percent of a

                                                      .10.
Recommended Industries for Foreign Investment in Taiwan—Cloud Computing Industry

          business' R&D spending would be deductible from its business income tax, but capped at no
          more than 30 percent of its business income tax. At the same time, the corporate income tax
          rate is reduced to 17%.
        b. Incentives
            Item                                                     Content
                                 15% of a company's R&D expenditures may be claimed as a deductable
R&D subsidies
                                 expense against the current fiscal year's payable business income tax.
                                 For biotech and pharmaceutical industries, 35% of R&D and employee
Biotech and Pharmaceutical
                                 training expenditures may be claimed as a deductable expense against the
Industry
                                 current year's payable business income tax.
Importing machinery not          Imported machinery of a kind not yet manufactured domestically may
manufactured domestically        enjoy tariff-free treatment.
                                 A company that imports new production technology or products from
                                 abroad that also uses the patent, trademark, or other special right owned by
Income tax exemption on
                                 a foreign profit-seeking business may, with special approval by the Industry
licensee fees paid overseas
                                 Development Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, enjoy tax
                                 exemption on the licensee fees paid to the foreign profit-seeking business
                                 If offshore for-profit enterprises which operate international transport
                                 services are contracted for construction projects, offer tech services, or are
1.7% or 2.25% preferential
                                 engaged in the rental of machinery and equipment within Taiwan
tax rate will be used when
                                 experience difficulty in shouldering operating costs, such enterprises may
issuing remuneration for
                                 apply for permission to be listed under a preferential tax rate bracket
foreign tech services
                                 regardless if they have a branch or an agent in Taiwan. For industries
rendered
                                 engaged in international transport the preferential tax rate shall be 1.7%;
                                 For other industries the rate shall be 2.25%.
                                 Private sector companies that participate in major public construction
                                 projects may enjoy a five-year Business Income Tax exemption, investment
Private sector participation     tax credits, and exemption of tariff on imported construction machinery as
in major public construction     well as deductions in House Tax, Land Value Tax, and Deed Tax.
projects                         Profit-seeking businesses that invest in private-sector organizations that
                                 participate in major public construction projects also receive deductions on
                                 their Business Income Tax.

      B. Investment with government participation
         Item                                              content
                       ¾Primary targets are the information, telecommunications, aerospace,
Scope of investment by   biotechnology, agricultural technology, digital content, and cultural creative
Development Fund         industry sectors.
                       ¾Investment plans for domestic SMEs.
Investment ceiling     ¾Publicly-held shares are not to exceed 49%.

                                                   .11.
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