Taiwan’s major technology firms are seeking to tap into the market for the Internet of Things (IoT) and the government can lend support by providing a trial platform for their fledgling solutions and devices, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Chen Tain-jy (陳添枝) said yesterday.
Chen, who is in charge of helping companies innovate and upgrade, told a media briefing leading technology firms have embarked on research and development of new value-added applications without challenging their existing clients or operations.
The minister has visited Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), Inventec Corp (英業達), Wistron Corp (緯創), Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), Hiwin Technologies Corp (上銀科技) and other firms.
Transformation is necessary for local firms to survive, as the markets for notebook computers, handsets and critical components grow increasingly saturated and rivals from China and elsewhere vie for market share.
Most innovations are software applications used by corporate customers in medical and educational hardware, Chen said.
While technology firms have by and large moved manufacturing facilities to China over the years, many have kept their research and development in Taiwan, allowing them sufficient talent and labor to navigate the IoT market, Chen said.
“The government can aid the development of various cloud-computing solutions by providing an experiment platform so the companies can prove their innovations are useful and reliable,” Chen said.
Companies will seek first to apply their devices in Taiwan and then export to overseas markets, especially Southeast Asia, in line with the government “new southbound policy,” Chen said.
The is not an attempt to encourage Taiwanese manufacturers to copy their business model currently used in China to Southeast Asian nations, Chen said.
“We want local firms to view ASEAN as a massive market with a fast-growing and young population, instead of a big factory with cheap labor to replace China,” Chen said.
He urged companies to quit the pursuit of cheap labor to produce intermediate goods and services, a business model that has yielded thin profit and low wages and makes Taiwan vulnerable to the global technology cycle.
Medical and educational clouds are two promising solutions Taiwanese companies might export with a technology edge, Chen said.
While Taiwanese companies might tap business opportunities linked to the Internet of Vehicles, they might not have the upper hand on the world stage due to the small auto market in Taiwan, Chen said.
“The council aims to focus on niche markets where local firms can win global dominance so they can push up profit margins and wage levels,” he said.
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