I. Policy Initiatives
In response to the revolutionary changes to life and industries brought about by IoT, 3D printing, AI, and robot technologies, and the reorganization of the global supply chain due to the China-US trade war and the COVID-19 epidemic, Taiwan has continued with the "smart machinery industry promotion program," which started in 2016, to enhance Taiwan's edge in semiconductors, ICT, and machinery industries. Taiwan proposed the "Center for High-end Manufacturing in Asia" strategy in 2020 with the aim of expediting the adoption of 5G and AI applications to accelerate smart industries, digital transformation, and innovative applications - thereby creating smart industry value chains and expand industrial output.
The measures for this program are as follows:
1. Smart Machinery Promotion Office
This office is established to create a new ecosystem for Taiwan's smart machinery industry. The aim is to develop various solutions based on Taiwan's precision machinery and ICT industries, to help key industries applying smart manufacturing.
2. Smart Manufacturing Technology Test Site
This site is a national proofing center that equipped with 100% domestically produced high-end machinery processing equipment. The site links together digital product systems that are domestically developed and produced, develops machinery processing application service modules, and realized 9 mixed-model smart manufacturing production lines for parts and components. It serves as the domestic smart manufacturing planning center, and shows the capability of domestic equipment in Industry 4.0 applications to the industry.
3. Smart Machinery Park
In coordination with industry characteristics, requirements, and location of industrial clusters, Taichung City Government has expanded the hinterland of Taichung Fengzhou Technology Science-based Industrial Park to a “ Smart Machinery Park” for the companies to build factories and test sites.
II. Overview of Industrial Development
1. Output Value
In 2017, the machinery industry became Taiwan's third largest industry in terms of output value, after the semiconductor and panel industries. According to the data from the ITRI Industry, Science and Technology International Strategy Center, intensification of trade disputes between the United States and China and a significant decrease in demand for industrial machinery caused the output value in 2019 to decline 9.3% The COVID-19 pandemic and escalation of the China-US trade war further reduced demand for machinery and equipment in 2020. As the pandemic is gradually subsiding and different countries are paying more attention to supply chain resilience, we expect these developments to create digital market opportunities for machinery manufacturing. In 2022, output is expected to rise to pre-pandemic levels of approximately NT$1.2 trillion. According to figures released by the Taiwan Machine Tool & Accessory Builders' Association (TMBA), machine tool exports from Taiwan came to US$2.78 billion in 2021, a significant increase of 29.1% from US$2.15 billion in 2020.
2. Industry Value Chains
Taiwan has comprehensive industrial clusters for machine tools and accessories, with firms engaged in the production of materials, accessories, and complete machines that make their way into applications in such sectors as automobiles, aerospace, molds and dies, and consumer electronics .
3. Industrial Clusters
According to statistics from the Statistics Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), Taiwan currently has approximately 18,000 machinery companies which collectively employ over 300,000 people. Industrial clusters have formed in northern, central, and southern Taiwan, and these have fostered the establishment of many important companies.
(1)Northern Taiwan
The northern Taiwan industrial cluster is formed in New Taipei City, Taoyuan, and Hsinchu, consists of precision sensing equipment, electronics and semiconductor production equipment, automated components and system integration, industrial computers, and controllers, in which “Fair Friend Group”(FFG) headquartered in Taipei, “Delta Electronics”(DELTA) and “Advantech” are the most representative.
(2)Central Taiwan
An industrial cluster of machine tools and parts and components, integrated ball screw, linear guide, industrial machinery (carpentry, textiles, rubber and plastics machinery), smart robots, automation components and system integration are located in Taichung and Changhua. The representative companies include “HIWIN”, “Precision Motion Industries” and “ Gallant Precision Machining Co., Ltd..
(3)Southern Taiwan
As for Chiayi, Tainan, and Kaohsiung, there are industrial clusters for machine tools and parts and components, industrial machinery (screw forming and processing and rubber and plastic machinery), semiconductor equipment, smart robots, controllers, and precision molds, in which "Tongtai Machine & Tool", "CCM", and "E&R Engineering Corp." are the most representative.