Medical Equipment Industry a Growth Industry

The China Economic News (CENS) writes that many Taiwanese companies involved in the manufacture of medical equipment are reaping rich rewards. According to CENS:

Impressed by the lucrative market for medical electronics, many Taiwanese IT manufacturers are gearing up to make foray into this field.

A study recently released by the government-backed Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) shows that the island`s medical-equipment industry generated revenue of NT$74.9 billion (US$2.3 billion at US$1:NT$32) last year, accounting for less than 1% of global market. Also, the institute`s study shows that the Taiwan industry has posted average revenue growth rate of 16.5% in each of the past few years.

Y.W. Shau, General Director of ITRI`s Medical Electronics and Device Technology Center, noted that medical electronics still has ample room for growth as this segment now accounts for 35% to 38% of the annual global market demand of US$196 billion.

Taiwanese IT manufacturers including Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., Quanta Computer Inc., Tatung Corp., Compal Electronics Inc., Kinpo Electronics Inc., Ritek Corp., and Johnson Health Technology Co., Ltd. have mapped out their medical-electronics schemes.

Shau noted that although Taiwan`s medial-equipment industry has developed excellent medical-electronics technologies, the industry is short of international marketing specialists. On top of that, the Taiwan industry is completely dominated by small- and mid-size manufacturers, making it hard to compete against international players.

Another disadvantage of the Taiwan industry is the extremely cautious attitude of the manufacturers towards technology cross-licensing with international players, eroding their competitiveness in international market.

The article is spot on. As many computer products have become increasingly commoditized more and more tech companies have been searching for growth sectors within the industry. Many (including my company) have jumped into developing medical computers and monitors. These are high-end products that have very demanding performance parameters. Especially targeting the medical PC industry has reaped rewards and the premium charged on these products is fairly high. However, as the article quite rightly states, there are still some issues including marketing, that need to be resolved.

CENS: Taiwanese IT Makers Seek Pay Dirt in Medical Electronics Market

Can Adlink become Taiwan's Second Biggest IPC Maker

An article on Digitimes suggests Adlink wants to become the second largest Industrial PC (IPC) manufacturer in Taiwan. Since I work for an IPC company myself this article is interesting. The IPC industry is a very unique, niche industry and the current giants, Advantech and Kontron, continue to do well in innovation and ICP Electronics continues to grow with their IEI Technology Brand. Advantech have recently restructured their own organization and continue to lead the field.

From the article it does seem that Adlink are moving into systems as most IPC companies are now. Most IPC companies started out as industrial motherboard manufacturers and have evolved into systems development. Some of the bigger application areas include Medical PCs, Panel PCs, digital signage and point of sales (POS) machines. Most significant IPC companies are moving in that general direction. It will good to see how the competitive IPC environment plays itself out over the coming years.

Digitimes quotes company chairman James Liu as saying:

"The planned large growth in consolidated revenues will come mainly from industrial automation product lines and embedded-computing controllers applied to medical care, transportation and general engineering."

(Original Article: Adlink aims to be second largest Taiwan-based IPC maker)