Originally published June 15 2005
Computex trade show in Taiwan grows by leaps and bounds
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A Wired News article describes the fast rise of Taiwan's electronics industry, the result of complicated ties to its high-production neighbor, China.
Twenty years ago, the exhibition hall of the Computex computer trade show here overlooked fields of cabbages, onions and yams.
Changes in Computex, which closes today, are mirrored in the country's technology industry at large -- a disorderly gaggle of tens of thousands of tiny, low-cost manufacturers is giving way to a handful of giants that increasingly outsource their manufacturing to mainland China.
Companies that once mass produced cheap beige-box PCs now show sleek machines styled like sports cars.
Makers of clunky pocket calculators design video players so small they vanish in a closed fist.
Five years ago, the company was an anonymous computer-components manufacturer, but it now makes attractive mini PCs, a move that helped boost margins and that executives say was crucial for its survival.
"Some guys spend more time with their PCs than they do with their wives or girlfriends," said Ken Huang, Shuttle's vice president of marketing.
The driving force behind these changes has been the industrialization of Taiwan's giant neighbor, China, with its vast population and cheap labor.
Low-cost manufacturing in China allows Taiwanese companies to cut costs, but it also heightens price competition.
Economies of scale combined with China's almost limitless production capacity mean a Taiwanese company that makes 10 million PCs can sell them cheaper than a company that makes only 1 million.
Those smaller manufacturers that survive, like Shuttle, emphasize design and quality.
Those tight business relationships are beneficial to both countries, but they overlook a potentially disastrous complication: China and Taiwan are technically at war.
Mentioning the troubled ties with China causes red faces and nervous laughter at local PC manufacturer Asustek Computer, which has extensive manufacturing facilities on both sides.
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