As the "digital life" concept expands from the home into automobiles, Taiwan can leverage its strength in mobile information technology (IT) products and low-cost manufacturing to tap into the fast growing sector, an industry watcher said yesterday.
"We have seen growing demand worldwide in the car telematics market," Hou Chun-yian (
`Telematics' segment
Telematics means telecommunication plus informatics, referring to global positioning and wireless systems installed in vehicles to provide drivers with a variety of information and services, such as maps or voice navigation, and real-time information services.
The global auto telematics sector is expected to grow by a compound annual growth rate of 27 percent to US$35 billion in 2010 from US$4.1 billion in 2001, according to ITRI's figures.
72 percent growth
The Asia-Pacific and European regions are two fast-growing car telematics markets, recording 72 percent and 47 percent growth last year, from a penetration rate of 2.7 percent and 6.6 percent in 2003, respectively, ITRI said.
Since most car telematics systems remain expensive -- costing US$1,000 to US$2,000 -- Taiwanese companies can take advantage of competitiveness in IT products and low-cost manufacturing to make inroads into the low-end, retail car telematics market, Hou said.
Personal-digital assistants (PDAs) equipped with global positioning systems (GPS) and wireless communication functions, as well as smart phones with price tags under US$500 could meet consumer demand in the low-end segment, he added.
As a pioneer in the sector, Mitac International Corp's (神達電腦) GPS PDA products, which have been well-received in the European and some Asian markets, have made the company the fourth largest PDA maker, Hou said.
Mitac's own-brand and contract manufactured PDA products combined to account for around 15 percent of the global market, and the company is expected to ship 2.2 million units this year, up from some 1 million units last year, a Chinese-language report said earlier this month.
Components
In addition to the consumer market, the key components of telematics systems, including GPS modules and small-to-medium display panels, also provide good opportunities for Taiwanese upstream suppliers, Hou said.
PC firms move in
A number of personal computer (PC) manufacturers, in a bid to diversify product line-ups amid deteriorating gross margins, are also moving to break into the automobile electronics sector, which encompasses electronic controls in engines, chassis and body, among other areas.
The segment's market value is expected to grow to US$20 billion this year from US$15 billion last year.
The world's No. 1 notebook assembler, Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), is slated to set up an automobile electronics unit next month to enter the market, company president Michael Wang (王震華) said earlier this month.
The firm made the decision following Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day