3D CAD in Taiwan, Japan, Korea

Disclaimer: This document was created in 2000 and has not been revised since.

The objective of this section is simply to summarize the key Taiwanese e-manufacturing players/influencers discovered during the mapping exercise. Hundred's of relevant Web sites were visited and condensed to the "useful" list detailed in the Appendix. This subset of that list constitutes the most influential players; confirmed and verified after more than 50 hours of focused browsing; in each relevant Internet area. (*2004 note - these links are not confirmed and many mat be broken. If I get time I will check amd relink.)

i. Government

The Taiwanese government takes a relatively "hands-off" approach to the economy, which tends to accentuate competition. At the same time the government actively supports high-tech developments through significant research funding programs. The government's most influential e-commerce program is the National Information Infrastructure project "NII" http://www.itis.org.tw/english/index.htm which has responsibility to accelerate e-commerce in Taiwan through significant funding and the promotion of joint-ventures. The key government agency responsible for industry is the Ministry of Economic Affairs "MOEA". The Industrial Technology Research Center "ITRC" is affiliated to MOEA and in addition to the "Incubator Center" for high-tech start-ups, the e-Lab funds private-sector e-commerce research.

ii. Telecoms

Taiwan has a single state-owned telecom, Chunghwa Telecom "CHT". In 1999 the government announced plans to privatize 30% of Chunghwa before the end of 2000. The government further announced in March 200 that licenses will be imminently granted to three additional telecoms to implement broadband fixed networks. This commitment to deregulate the telecom markets is likely to fuel dramatic growth in the broadband market during the next two years.

iii. Manufacturing industry associations

Taiwan is awash with manufacturing associations for machinery, shoes, mold and die etc., most of who focus on providing buyer-supplier data through their Web sites. Those with the most aggressive Web presence and most likely to be of initial value in launching ASP-CAD into the Taiwanese market are the Taiwan Mold & Die Industry Association "TMDIA" and the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry "TAMI"l.

iv. 3D CAD Software Developers

More than 60 local companies advertise 3D CAD CAM computer aided design software: most of those companies seem to be small (typically 5 - 15 people) and most seem to customize imported software as a sideline business. The most significant developers, and those most likely to be useful during the ASP-CAD market launch, are RITI a localizer of CAD CAM software (although their Web site seems to focus more on GIS software), TCAM Development House a 25 person software developer with an advertised #1 Taiwan market share in EDM software, Di Han Computer a 12 person CAM software developer, Other software developers of possible interest are: Newtron Technology, Win-Win Development House, Abico Automation and PrecisionTek (HZS' distributor).

v. Online CAD CAM-CAE Communities

Although there are a large number of buyer-supplier matchmaking exchanges on the Taiwanese Internet, there is not such an obvious presence of online CAD CAM communities. I believe this to be indicative of the as yet unexploited potential of the Taiwanese e-manufacturing market. There are just two notable players in the online CAD CAM arena, CAD CAM Online is the members-only level of Mold.net (affiliated to MoldNet WorldWide) which is the dominant site and stands out as the partner of choice for ASP-CAD in Taiwan (of course it could also be the #1 competitor) and CADMEN which carries a lot of content about a wide range of CAM and CAE.

vi. ASPs

There are as yet no major CAD CAM ASPs in the Taiwanese market although Road Ahead Technologies "RAT", yet another affiliate of Mold.net, seems to be most likely to make the first entry into the CAD CAM ASP space: they already have a very extensive set of data-translator information online. While not true ASPs, there are a number of Taiwanese manufacturers, for example RichSign Industrial and Race Mold that advertise the ability to accept remote CAD data for processing. The virtual harnessing of these "e-aware" manufacturers is a classic Internet market opportunity in the making.

vii. ISPs

The most notable feature of the Taiwanese Internet market is the huge (more than 900) number of ISPs. The number of ISPs is expected to reduce during the next two years, as broadband access, with an obviously higher cost of ISP participation, becomes mainstream and forces consolidation/acquisition of today's narrowband players. The largest ISP in the Taiwanese market (ranked #5 worldwide) is HiNet the ISP subsidiary of Chunghwa Telecom. This is probably the partner of choice if ASP-CAD were to consider direct hosting in Taiwan. Cynex is a relatively new but well funded entrant to the corporate hosting market and may be an interesting partner for ASP-CAD in a direct hosting scenario. Taiwan's #1 broadband ISP is GigaMedia (which has agreements with 23 Taiwanese cable companies to supply Internet content) IPO'd on NASDAQ in February 2000.

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