The nation’s electrical engineering and machinery industry could consider Southeast Asia as a market for new demand, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) said last week.
Given the region’s stable economic growth, demand from Southeast Asian countries would be more favorable in the long term, TIER senior analyst Wang Chung-ching (王忠慶) told a seminar organized by Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp (台灣證券交易所) on Wednesday.
As demand in Taiwan is unlikely to increase significantly in the near future, manufacturers need to seek new sales drivers in emerging markets while the government could help manufacturers find new buyers via existing channel networks, as many Taiwanese companies have operated in Southeast Asia for years, Wang said.
Taiwan’s exports of machinery equipment dropped 6.9 percent to US$19.4 billion last year from a year earlier, the fourth consecutive year of decline, data compiled by the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械工業同業公會) showed.
Shipments to China and the US, the top two markets for local machinery makers, declined by 12.7 percent and 0.6 percent year-on-year last year respectively, TAMI’s data showed.
China was the destination for about 26 percent of all Taiwanese machinery exports last year, followed by the US, with 17.9 percent, while Southeast Asia accounted for 16.7 percent or US$3.24 billion, the TAMI data showed.
“The machinery industry’s exports have been stagnant since 2011, mainly dragged down by the sluggish demand after the global financial crisis [2008 to 2009],” Wang said, adding that challenges also comes from the supply side.
Local manufacturers face a rising competition from their global peers, such as Germany and China, who have used new technologies to enhance their capabilities.
Germany, which initiated the idea of “Industry 4.0” in 2011, has extended its focus to the computerization of manufacturing process in all its industrial sectors, Wang said.
Foreign exchange fluctuation is another drag on Taiwan’s exports, he said.
The dramatic depreciation of China’s yuan against major global currencies significantly hurt the industry last year, he added.
Local manufacturers should boost their niches in the global market through product differentiation, he said.
“Most machinery companies only provide individual machines or components. They should try to develop total solutions for end-market customers,” he said.
To raise the competitiveness of the nation’s traditional industries, the Taiwan Machine Tool & Accessory Builders’ Association (台灣工具機暨零組件工業同業公會) has said that it is seeking to cooperate with companies in different fields, including the semiconductor industry, to differentiate their products from those of their rivals.
STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
‘DECENT RESULTS’: The company said it is confident thanks to an improving world economy and uptakes in new wireless and AI technologies, despite US uncertainty Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it plans to build a new server manufacturing factory in the US this year to address US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policy. That would be the second server production base for Pegatron in addition to the existing facilities in Taoyuan, the iPhone assembler said. Servers are one of the new businesses Pegatron has explored in recent years to develop a more balanced product lineup. “We aim to provide our services from a location in the vicinity of our customers,” Pegatron president and chief executive officer Gary Cheng (鄭光治) told an online earnings conference yesterday. “We
LEAK SOURCE? There would be concern over the possibility of tech leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday stayed mum after a report said that the chipmaker has pitched chip designers Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Broadcom Inc about taking a stake in a joint venture to operate Intel Corp’s factories. Industry sources told the Central News Agency (CNA) that the possibility of TSMC proposing to operate Intel’s wafer fabs is low, as the Taiwanese chipmaker has always focused on its core business. There is also concern over possible technology leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺)
It was late morning and steam was rising from water tanks atop the colorful, but opaque-windowed, “soapland” sex parlors in a historic Tokyo red-light district. Walking through the narrow streets, camera in hand, was Beniko — a former sex worker who is trying to capture the spirit of the area once known as Yoshiwara through photography. “People often talk about this neighborhood having a ‘bad history,’” said Beniko, who goes by her nickname. “But the truth is that through the years people have lived here, made a life here, sometimes struggled to survive. I want to share that reality.” In its mid-17th to
RSS