US-based Garmin, a GPS navigation solution and wearable device provider, plans to invest in Southeast Asia as part of efforts to improve the resilience of its supply chain.
The company is to begin investment next month, with production set to start in 2026, but the location of the plant would not be announced until next month, Garmin marketing and business vice president for Asia Lin Meng-yuan (林孟垣) said.
The move, which has been in the works for some time, is aimed at diversifying Garmin’s production base and strengthening its supply chain resilience by building closer ties with suppliers there, Lin said.
Photo: CNA
Strengthening the company’s supply chain is critical, because Garmin tends to require short lead times for products and more than two suppliers for every component the company purchases, Lin added.
The investment project, which would initially focus on auto navigation products, is expected to help spur the company’s growth over the next 10 to 30 years, Lin said.
Garmin, which was cofounded by Min Kao (高民環), a Taiwanese, has maintained 90 percent of production in Taiwan and employs about 10,000 people in the country.
However, the relocation was not focused on lowering manufacturing costs, Lin said.
In Taiwan, Garmin has production sites in Sijhih (汐止) and Linkuo (林口) districts in New Taipei City, Jhongli District (中壢) in Taoyuan and Tainan, where the company expanded capacity in 2021, Lin said.
It has also set up a research and development center in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店), reflecting its efforts to invest in Taiwan, Lin added.
Outside the nation, Garmin has 10 production bases in the US and Europe.
Garmin expects its sales to grow by 10 percent on average this year, with revenue in Asia to grow 19 percent and outperform, despite foreign exchange losses in Japan and a slow economic recovery in China.
Sales in Taiwan, which is considered to be a mature market, are expected to grow by 10 percent this year, while the markets in Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia are to grow steadily.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan