Abstract
Promoting high-tech industries in the developing world is a very significant development. In particular, the modern information technology (IT), which integrates the cutting-edge of computer hardware, software, and telecommunication, revolutionizes economic and political relations, at both the national and the international levels. This paper examines the major policies and institutions responsible for promoting the information industry in Taiwan. It finds that Taiwan's information industry was created on the solid foundation laid by the successful export-oriented electronics industry, and the current technology-intensive strategy is a natural extension of Taiwan's previous development strategies. It draws attention to three important factors that shape Taiwan's patterns of high-tech development: the many important roles played by the Taiwanese state, the strengths and weaknesses of Taiwan's decentralized industrial structure that is dominated by small-and medium-sized firms, and Taiwan's "accommodative" approach to IT development. Promoting IT is only a means for industrial upgrading, not an end in itself. In developing IT, Taiwan has maintained close ties with the global technological market and attempted to harness multinational corporations' investment with the country's macroeconomic adjustment, rather than asserting narrow economic nationalism and restricting the domestic market. Comparisons are also drawn between the Taiwanese model and other countries that differ in state roles, industrial structures (e.g., Korea's chaebol model), and technological approach (e.g., Brazil's "assertive" approach) to show that there are various ways for developing high-tech.