TRENDS ARE CHANGING: In Taiwan’s electronics industry, SMEs that are good at flexible production could benefit from niche opportunities, a Yuanta economist said

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 16, 2020
By: Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporter

Owing to Taiwan’s advantages in the global electronics industry and multinational companies’ growing tendency to shift their production bases out of China, the local industry could benefit in the post-COVID-19 pandemic period, Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) economist Yen Chen-hui (顏承暉) said last week.

The Taiwanese electronics industry — the pillar of the nation’s manufacturing sector — is riding on cutting-edge technology trends in the areas of 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain, despite facing pandemic woes, Yen said in a report released on Friday.

“Tech trends are not changing because of the virus, and Taiwan is fortunately well-positioned on the tide of radical innovations such as 5G, AI, IoT, blockchain, etc, while living habits of people may change a great deal in the next few years because of technology advancement. Overall, Taiwan should have many opportunities to ride on these tech trends,” Yen said.

The report said that the global electronics industry has been characterized by “low customization, mass production” over the past two decades, with only PCs, notebook computers and mobile handsets being connected to the Internet.    [FULL  STORY]