Taiwan’s Optoelectronics Industry in Good Shape; Lessons to Learn for India!

Whenever I’ve had conversations with people regarding Taiwan, optoelectronics has been sure to feature! In fact, one of my former bosses happily pointed out this particular photonics blog to the sales team of his company, indicating that they should read it to keep abreast of developments.

It was an even greater pleasure to recently learn that local optoelectronics industry in Taiwan is growing quite well. This, despite the recession.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), Taiwan, the domestic optoelectronics industry has had an output value of NT$182 billion in 2008. This is likely to reach around NT$320 billion by the year 2015! That’s a massive growth of nearly 76 percent!

To further encourage the entry of local players into the optoelectronic materials market, the MOEA has drafted some related guidelines for the flat panel display and photovoltaic materials. These are being done as the upstream optoelectronic materials industry in Taiwan are not that familiar with this industry and need guidance.

Among these are the implementation of a three-year “Project for LCD Materials Localization Promotion,” which, will end in 2009. The MOEA has also said that investments in this area is likely to reach NT$5.9 billion in 2009, going up to NT$21.2 billion in 2012. That’s nearly four times growth in a matter of three years or so!

Then, there is also a “New Leading Product Developing Plan.” It provides guidance to conventional firms for production of raw materials, etc.

Next, there is a “Project for Environmentally-compatible Optoelectronic Materials Industry Promotion.” The government of Taiwan provides guidance for investment in low-power, low-toxicity, as well as recycled and environmentally friendly optoelectronic materials.

There is also a “Plan for Establishing an Optoelectronic Materials Industry Environment.” This is for the PV industry, and provides guidance to local firms for producing PV materials via the “New Leading Product Development Project.”

The first thought that comes to the mind is: all of these are such carefully thought out plans to develop and boost the optoelectronics industry that sometimes I wish such steps or something similar were also undertaken in India!

The PV industry is in its infancy here. So, a lot of hand-holding would be required for the PV materials manufacturers. There are ambitious plans to develop a stable and prosperous PV industry in India. Perhaps, it would be wise for the local industry here to learn from the lessons of those areas that are much more developed and thriving.

Aug. 13, 2009

Pradeep