TAIPEI: Taiwan’s machine-tool industry, which has been aggressively driving its research and development efforts in areas such as “smart manufacturing”, is keen to tap opportunities in Malaysia amid the growing global uncertainties.
Many Taiwanese companies have expressed keen interest to enter into some form of collaboration with their Malaysian counterparts as a means to penetrate into the Asean region with its combined population of over 500 million.
Taiwan companies already operating in Malaysia spoke about their favourable impressions of Malaysia’s well-developed infrastructure, and confidence in generating synergies from collaborations and creating win-win situations.
In an interview with Bernama, Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI) chairman Alex Ko said exports from all segments of Taiwan’s machine-building industry reached a record of $27.4 billion in 2018.
He said given Taiwan’s relatively small domestic market — the island’s population is about 23 million — it had been aggressively exporting its products and competing against traditional machinery-exporting nations such as Germany, Switzerland and Italy.
“Our smart manufacturing offers the way forward and we want to promote our smart technology. Indeed, smart manufacturing is the key to future growth and success,” he emphasised.
However, Ko said ongoing US-China trade tensions were forcing many Taiwanese companies to relocate and look for other markets such as the Asean region, including Malaysia.
He said Vietnam was also being closely eyed and the Taiwanese companies had started to invest in the country because of lower labour and production costs.
“China cannot sustain its position as a world factory because of rising costs and the ongoing trade problems with the US. Thus, we expect several new factories to spring up in the (Asean) region.
“The US-China trade war will have a short-term negative impact on Taiwan’s machine-building industry but the long-term impact, in our view, is expected to be good,” he said.
This view was also echoed by the executives of a number of Taiwanese machine-building companies participating in an international panel discussion organised by the country’s machine-building industry in collaboration with the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA).
The panellists highlighted the growing significance of using smart technology together with robots and automation. – Bernama
