NOT ALL WINNERS: Sales in the technical support and professional service sector fell 5 percent last quarter, with sales in the photography industry dropping 12.7 percent
Taipei Times
Date: May 12, 2020
By: Natasha Li / Staff reporter
Combined sales across the computer and information technology (IT) service sector last quarter hit a record of NT$90.8 billion (US$3.04 billion), increasing 7.3 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
“The COVID-19 pandemic played an important role in driving market demand for the computer and IT service sector last quarter, which was especially visible within the computer programming industry,” Department of Statistics Director-General Wang Shu-chuan (王淑娟) told the Taipei Times by telephone.
The computer programming industry last quarter posted a 10.1 percent increase in sales to NT$69.2 billion thanks to heavy demand for software, which was tied to continuous growth in the production and export of servers, and network and communication devices, Wang said.
“The pandemic has forced many people to work from home, which has propelled companies to install network infrastructure or re-enforce existing ones through cybersecurity systems,” she said, adding that steady deployment of 5G technologies has also contributed to the industry’s growth. [FULL STORY]