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Eyeing global market, Taiwan consolidating drone resources: AIDC
 

12/07/2024

Taipei, Dec. 7 (CNA) Taiwan is bringing together dozens of drone companies to forge a drone production supply hub capable of making its mark in global markets, Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. (AIDC) President Ma Wan-june (馬萬鈞) said in a recent interview with CNA.

Ma was referring to an initiative by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) to set up the Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance (Tediboa) in September 2024, led by AIDC, in which the MOEA has a 35 percent stake.

The Tediboa is comprised of about 50 drone-related companies including ADIC, aircraft maintenance services provider Air Asia Co., drone brand Thunder Tiger Corp., Coretronic Intelligent Robotics Corp., Geosat Aerospace & Technology Inc., Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corp., and contract electronics maker Qisda Group.

AIDC Chairman Hu Kai-hung (胡開宏), an AIDC board member who represents the MOEA, heads the new group.

"Before the establishment of the alliance, Taiwan's drone industry only had individual companies acting independently without any coordination," Ma said. "Now, it has moved to consolidate the sector's resources and lead the sector forward."

According to Ma, Taiwan has more than 100 drone-related companies, consisting of Tier One system operators, Tier Two module producers and Tier Three component suppliers.

That will be instrumental in supporting a strong supply chain capable of rolling out fuselages, power systems, flight controls, GPS antenna modules, camera lens modules, radar, unmanned aircraft system integration, drone ground control stations, software, and assembly and testing services, Ma said.

AIDC, which produces parts for Airbus, Boeing and Bombardier, and is involved in developing military aircraft for Taiwan, will take the leading role in harnessing the potential of that supply chain, according to Ma.

It will be responsible for building the Taiwan drone supply hub while "helping Taiwanese companies enter the global drone supply chain and sell their products on the global market," he said.

To that end, AIDC signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on drone cooperation in June with U.S.-based defense industry firm AEVEX Aerospace, which hoped to gain access to hardware, software and logistical support from Taiwanese aerospace suppliers, Ma said.

The Tediboa has also signed MOUs on drone cooperation with Latvia, Poland and Lithuania, as well as the U.S. state of Oklahoma, a key U.S. hub for the drone industry, in recent months.

In September, executives from 26 American drone manufacturers visited Taiwan and held talks with the public agencies, private companies and academia on future partnerships in drone development.

Raymond Green, director of the American Institute in Taiwan, said then that the U.S. and Taiwan were "well-positioned" to partner in the field because of the U.S.' strengths in AI research and development and Taiwan's leadership in semiconductor manufacturing.

Ma said in the interview that many foreign countries, including the U.S., are interested in tapping into Taiwan's strengths in drone development.

"Having given Taiwanese companies the cold shoulder in the past, several foreign countries have become more friendly with Taiwan on drone development in the past two to three years," Ma said, helped by Taiwan's steady rollout of high quality aerospace products.

Once Taiwanese manufacturers gain footholds in the global drone supply chain and emerge as "system vendors," they should see gross margins well above the 3-4 percent made by many local contract electronics suppliers, Ma said.

Ma acknowledged that China is a formidable competitor in the field, with Shenzhen-based DJI leading the way with a roughly 70 percent share of the global consumer drone market and its products also used for military purposes.

But Ma said he was not afraid of China's dominating presence in the sector or its economies of scale because of the operational flexibility of Taiwan's small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

Taiwanese companies are good at producing affordable and good quality products because of their ability to take advantage of innovations to develop various payload applications, Ma said.

Ma said AIDC is well prepared to provide assistance to Taiwan's SMEs in areas ranging from production expansion, funding, materials management and production line development to quality control to help them secure orders.

(By Chiang Ming-yen, Matt Yu and Frances Huang)

 

Source, https://focustaiwan.tw/business/202412070009   

 

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