Behind this rise are thousands of engineers working in places like Hsinchu Science Park.

Lester Huang is one of them.

I've been in the semiconductor industry for nearly 10 years.

I've worked for four companies.

You may have heard about the technology industry being an industry with long working hours and lots of pressure.

Many engineers regularly work overtime.

I think it's normal to get off work at 8 or 9 p.m.

The work may be demanding, but it's rewarded with an impressive paycheck.

The average salary of an engineer in Hsinchu is more than two and a half times higher than the region's average.

The tech boom has impacted the housing market, especially around Hsinchu Science Park.

The buyers of these new buildings, they're mostly senior engineers, with annual incomes ranging from 84 to 280,000 euros.

Armed with a high salary, engineers view purchasing an expensive property as a common next step.

For many, shopping for a new apartment has become a weekend activity.

My colleagues and I talk about buying a house, or stocks, or travelling.

I think buying a house is a common topic.

Sometimes someone will come along and say the pre-sale house allows to buy three households at a time.

Then you can get more discounts.

Sometimes you'll be invited to view the houses together on the weekend.

It's like group shopping, which is cheaper.

Take off your shoes, please.

This is a three-bedroom, two-bathroom flat.

It's what the engineers mainly buy.

As engineers strategize to find the best deals, real estate prices continue to climb.

Housing prices have increased by more than 50 percent each year.

The price per square meter ten years ago was around 7,000 euros.

And during the pandemic, it increased to 8,500 euros.

Now, one year later, it's 17,000 euros.

Meanwhile, many young Taiwanese outside the tech sector watch their dream of home ownership slip further away.

I'm young, and I just started working.

I can't buy a house.

I think it's pretty difficult for our generation, because salary increases can't keep up with the housing prices.

Taiwan's high-tech boom is often compared to Silicon Valley, where hefty IT salaries fuel economic growth, but also push living costs to new heights and widen the gap between the rich and poor.

Because here, too, the discrepancy in salaries is significant.

The average monthly salary in San Francisco is nearly 7,000 euros, but engineers can earn significantly more, around 12,000 euros per month.

It pushes away lower-income workers, so service workers who don't earn as much money have a harder time affording.

And the traffic congestion has gotten worse and worse.

I think in Taiwan, you see a similar phenomenon.

Like San Francisco, the real estate problem is worsening in Hsinchu.

Though property prices are high in both locations, costs in San Francisco stagnated in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Hsinchu's market, however, has exploded.

Property prices have more than doubled.

The similarities between Silicon Valley and Hsinchu are striking.

Both regions share a history of deep collaboration, and Hsinchu's growth has been shaped by engineers in Silicon Valley.

As Taiwan's semiconductor industry thrives, it also faces new challenges.

Because Taiwan has a declining birth rate, it can't provide the talent the tech industry needs.

And because product demand is not as high as it once was, there are a lot of reports about companies laying off people.

So this could be a warning that we've reached saturation point with technology talent.

As the local semiconductor industry faces challenges of its own, on a global scale, Taiwan's key players must also navigate a shifting geopolitical landscape.

There's so much uncertainty that it's clear that, well, TSMC is moving to Germany.

It's moving out. It's spreading its risks around the world.

It's really trying to prepare for any outcome, you know, in its relationship to China.

As Taiwan's semiconductor giants expand globally and navigate a shifting geopolitical landscape, the stakes are higher than ever.

Lester, too, is diversifying his investments, putting money into stocks alongside real estate.