Taiwan electronic manufacturing cluster set up in Bengaluru

Karnataka has created a Taiwan electronic manufacturing cluster near the Bengaluru airport to house Taiwanese electronic manufacturers and expects them to invest $ 500 million in setting up the units.

The state signed an agreement with Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers Association (TEEMA), a grouping that represents over 3,000 Taiwanese electronic firms. The key among them include $ 29.4 billion Getac Technology Corp, maker of rugged handheld devices and laptops for industrial and military use, MobileTron electronics that makes automotive electronics and Waffer Technology Corp, which manufactures components and systems for laptops and smartphones.

“100 acres is a conservative estimate, they want to expand to 1,000 acres,” said K Ratnaprabha, additional chief secretary of Karnataka. “The investments will begin in the next six to nine months”.

India has been wooing Taiwanese investments in the country, with the country’s top bureaucrats leading delegations in the last one year. While Karnataka has lost out on investments from Foxconn, the world’s largest electronic manufacturing service provider to Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, both Karnataka and Taiwanese officials say the investment opportunity from other firms are huge.

“Every state they said please take the land. It was difficult. In Karnataka, they have land that is developed and we can start a factory tomorrow,” said Francis Tsai, chairman of TEEMA.

Taiwanese firms such as Mediatek, the world’s second largest fables chip company, Vistron, D-link and Delta Electronics have research and software development facilities in India, mainly in Bengaluru.

“Nearly 98 percent of Taiwanese companies is small and medium industries. India needs lot of these industries, who in their specialisation are world leaders. These companies supply components to big companies,” said Kim Y C Tsai, chairman and CEO of Mobiletron Electronics, an automotive electronics firm.

Karnataka chief secretary Kaushik Mukherjee said the state has emerged as a preferred investment destination for technology firms.

“I have absolutely no issues with other states like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra or Orissa taking investments. They need to come here and manufacture, grow and thrive here,” he said.