Barry Lam Praises Government's US Industrial Park Plan for SMEs

Regarding the Taiwan government's recent active planning to establish overseas industrial parks in places like Texas in the United States, Pegatron Chairman Tung Tze-hsien expressed strong endorsement and deep insights today. He pointed out that this concept of government-led coordination, planning, and establishment of overseas clusters is very similar to the "Q-Bus" vertically integrated park model built back then by major IT manufacturer Quanta Computer in Songjiang, Shanghai, mainland China. Through such centralized management and infrastructure construction, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Taiwan that lack cross-border investment experience and have relatively limited resources can be effectively assisted in achieving an overall "packaged relocation." This strategy not only significantly reduces the exploratory period and administrative costs for companies setting up factories in the US individually, but is also viewed by the industry as a wise direction that can substantially enhance the overall operational efficiency of the supply chain.

Looking back at the globalization trajectory of Taiwan's electronics industry over the past few decades, large contract manufacturers such as Foxconn, Quanta, and TSMC often possess robust financial strength and massive legal and financial teams, enabling them to tackle numerous difficulties when establishing overseas plants, such as land acquisition, negotiations with local governments, environmental impact assessments, and infrastructure setup. However, as an important hub in the global high-tech supply chain, Taiwan's resilience often stems from countless SMEs with sophisticated technologies and detailed divisions of labor. Although these upstream component suppliers and downstream module manufacturers possess world-class competitiveness in specific fields, when facing the vast, legally complex, and culturally distinct US market, they often feel constrained due to their smaller scale and may even miss the golden opportunity for global deployment due to information asymmetry.

The "Q-Bus" model mentioned by Tung is precisely a classic historical experience for solving such pain points. During the wave of rapid electronics industry relocation to mainland China back then, Quanta established a large industrial park to gather related supply chain manufacturers within the same area, which not only drastically shortened logistics transportation time and costs, but also directly resolved the most cumbersome infrastructure issues during the factory setup process within the park. Copying and applying this mature operational logic to current locations such as Texas in the US means that if the government can take the lead in establishing overseas industrial parks, it can comprehensively handle complex details such as water and electricity supply, wastewater treatment, and employee board, lodging, and living functions for SMEs all at once, allowing Taiwan's technology manufacturers to "move in with luggage" and focus on core manufacturing and technological innovation.

From a macro international economic, trade, and geopolitical perspective, this policy is also an important defense line for Taiwan's industry to respond to the restructuring of the global supply chain. In recent years, with the ongoing escalation of US-China trade frictions, coupled with the US government's active promotion of manufacturing reshoring and localized production, major international brand clients have successively required their suppliers to have the capability for diversified production bases. As an important economic and industrial hub in the southern United States, Texas boasts a relatively friendly investment environment, abundant energy supply, and a well-developed transportation network, attracting the attention of numerous major international manufacturers. If the Taiwan government can intervene at this time, negotiating with local US governments through official channels to secure more advantageous land and policy support, it will pave a safe and steady path for Taiwan's SMEs to develop in the United States.

However, although the concept of overseas industrial parks has profound vision and substantial benefits, there are still many delicate challenges to overcome during actual implementation. For instance, US labor laws, environmental standards, tax structures, and cultural differences differ significantly from those in Taiwan and past Asian manufacturing bases. When planning the parks, in addition to hardware facilities such as factory buildings and water and electricity supply, providing comprehensive legal, accounting, and compliance consulting services will be a key factor determining the success or failure of the parks. In addition, the control of operating costs and the friction between Taiwan and the US regarding administrative efficiency are also focuses of continuous concern for the industry. Overall, Tung Tze-hsien's views pointed out the core solution for Taiwan's supply chain collective going abroad; through the government's matchmaking and model replication, Taiwan's SMEs are expected to continue playing an indispensable key role in the new international economic and trade game.