December 4, 2006

In the booming global automotive electronics market, Taiwan companies are expected to grab opportunities in manufacturing onboard unit ( OBU) equipment, telematic and car navigational products. According to the Industrial Economics and Knowledge center (IEK) of the Industrial Technology Research Institute ( ITRI ).

According to their forecast, in 2008 the production value of Taiwan's automotive electronics industry is expected to reach US$923 million at present exchange rate, and some products, such as light-emitting diodes ( LEDs )are expected to enjoy very high growth rates. LEDs are considered to have a wider application range as new car models in the near future will require about 60 LEDs in various parts. In Europe, local experts point out, more than 80 percent of new cars are already equipped with LED third brake lights, placing a large demand on Taiwan's LED suppliers. Further demand will derive from headlamps changing to LEDs.

GPS Handsets will play larger role in Commercial Telematics

According to analysts, one of the faster-growing areas in the commercial telematics market is the use of GPS-enabled mobile handsets for mobile resource management.

Truck driver and load status information is sent via mobile phone to a centralized server, so fleet managers may better organize their field workers and make their operations more efficient.

GPS-enabled handsets are suitable for small to mid-sized fleets looking for simple means of communicating with drivers, and to control their dispatching, time sheet reporting, navigation and alerts.

The handset-based market for commercial telematics is not as well established in Europe as it is in the U.S.A. This should not come as a surprise, since only a handful of GPS-enabled GSM phones are currently available in Europe.

Taiwan GPS makers face falling gross margins

Taiwan GPS OEM/ODM makers are looking to develop new products as the market becomes more competitive. The gross margins for first-tier GPS ODMS is 15-25 percent, while the gross margins for OEM makers are only 5-10 percent, as players from China and Korea compete fiercely, according to the sources at those makers. The sources also indicated that some second-tier GPS vendors and ODM/OEM makers will exit the market in 2007.

Taiwan companies have played a key role in Europe's GPS personal navigation device (PND) market, including supplying products to the leading brands ranking as No. 1, 2 and 3 in these markets.