""The most lucrative industry in Hsinchu isn't chips. It's kindergartens," a Taiwanese friend quipped when I mentioned my trip to the chip city, 50 miles south of Taipei. He was half-joking, but it's not far from the truth. Hsinchu, home to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and a dense network of tech firms that form the world's chip supply chains, is now the rare place in Taiwan where people are still having babies - if they can afford to."
"Taiwan's total fertility rate, or TFR, hit just 0.87 per woman in 2023 - holding steady from 2022 after seven straight years of decline. It ticked up to 0.89 per woman in 2024 - a "dragon year," traditionally seen as auspicious for births - but remained well below the 2.1 replacement rate. Against this backdrop, Hsinchu's baby bump - with a steady TFR rate of around 1 per woman - is modest but meaningful."
Hsinchu hosts Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and a dense network of tech firms forming global chip supply chains. High salaries, stable employment, and a wave of young professionals have sustained a higher local fertility rate near one child per woman. Taiwan's national total fertility rate fell to 0.87 in 2023 and rose slightly to 0.89 in 2024, far below the 2.1 replacement level. Wealth concentration in Hsinchu's affluent boroughs drives high-cost parenting routines, intense competition for childcare, and premium services. Rising housing prices and inequality are pushing many local young residents out of family formation and affordable living.
Read at Business Insider
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