Feb 22, 2013
Innovation to drive growth for years to come
Automotive electronics are playing a vital role in the trend toward safer, higher-performance, cleaner, smarter, more energy-saving, electric, and connected vehicles, with more and more electronic parts and systems being used in modern vehicles.
Thanks to their growing applications, automotive-electronics systems are capturing an increasing share of the value of a car, from about 26% in 2003 to around 40% last year. And the more expensive the car, the higher the share occupied by electronics.
Backed by Taiwan’s world-class electronics and ICT (information and communications technology) industries, the island’s auto-parts producers are developing advanced, reasonably priced automotive-electronics systems and components for customers around the world. More and more of these producers are eyeing not only domestic carmakers, but also the huge market in China.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) predicts that automotive electronics will be one of Taiwan’s future star industries in terms of rapid growth. The island’s overall automotive-electronics production value rose from NT$56 billion (US$1.87 billion) in 2006 to some NT$100 billion (US$3.3 billion) in 2010, and is expected to reach NT$300 billion (US$10 billion) in 2015.
The core advantage of Taiwan’s automotive electronics industry is its leader-of-the-pack comprehensive supply chains for auto parts and auto electronics, ranging from machinery, mold/die development, sheet-metal parts, rubber tires, automotive lighting, vehicle infotainment, automotive semiconductors, automotive micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), car computers, and many safety-related automotive systems. This advantage is generating strong growth momentum for the local automotive electronics industry, and the rapidly increasing global demand for parts and systems that make vehicles smarter, safer, cleaner, and more connected is driving players in Taiwan to move forward faster than ever by integrating the island’s resources.
Local companies have made significant headway in both the OE (original equipment) and AM (aftermarket) segments of the auto-electronics market over the past year. Among their achievements are the development of tire-pressure monitoring systems (TPMS), telematics on-board units (OBUs), charge-coupled device/complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CCD/CMOS) cameras, thin film transistor-liquid crystal displays (TFT-LCDs), engine control units (ECUs), AC/DC converters, light-emitting diode (LED) lamps, portable navigation devices (PNDs), and night-vision systems.
Taiwan’s relatively weak assembled-vehicle industry means that there are not very many international Tier-1 automotive-electronics companies on the island, but a large number of local firms are outstanding Tier-2 suppliers to global automakers thanks to their unmatched integrated competitiveness. Many domestic automotive-electronics makers have not only gained a solid foothold in the supply chains of global automakers, but are also playing an important role in the Chinese market by supplying reasonably-priced, high-quality systems and parts to automakers there.
Source: TAIPEI AMPA