'IT should stand for India and Taiwan'

NEW DELHI, INDIA: With a population of 23 million, the island nation of Taiwan is about as large as Delhi, with one-hundredth the land area of India. Yet Taiwan-based companies account for 90 per cent of the production of the world’s PCs (including laptops). And the listed ICT companies in Taiwan account for revenues of $269 billion.

With the manufacturing base for these Taiwanese companies largely being Mainland China, the tiny country has $100 bn of trade with China, 80 per cent of which is exports. This despite the strained relationship of the two countries: The People’s Republic of China doesn’t officially recognize Taiwan, once under Chinese rule, as an independent nation.

“It’s an interesting relationship and a tight balance,” MaYing-Jeou, the presidential candidate from KMT (Kuomintang), the largest political party in Taiwan, for the 2008 elections in Taiwan, told CyberMedia News. “They have 900 missiles aimed at us. Our politics are very different…but the economics are the same!” He was speaking on the sidelines of a luncheon hosted by MAIT, the Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology. MAIT chairman Gopal Srinivasan (of TVSE) as been very active in Indo-Taiwanese business interaction.

China (including Hong Kong) is Taiwan’s largest trading partner, accounting for 40 per cent of its trade, with the USA a distant second at 14 per cent. Taiwanese companies have more than $300 bn in investment in the Mainland.

Now, says Ma, Taiwan is very interested in expanding its base, one of his reasons for visiting India—and Singapore. An associate explained that given the political situation with China, there is a lot of concern in Taiwan about “putting all our eggs in one basket”.

Taiwan has the largest semiconductor foundry service in the world, and the second-largest IC design industry after the USA. Chip design is an area that’s gathered momentum in India in the past year, and is a likely area of cooperation given that fabless chip design firms in India tend to go to Taiwan for ATM (testing) or manufacturing.

“Taiwan could be a catalyst for Indian IT industry,” said Ma. “From upstream to downstream, Indian companies could leverage the expertise of Taiwan in manufacturing, and Taiwan could draw on India’s strengths in software.”

Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, is probably the world most networked city, with the widest wireless coverage and 92 per cent of its 930,000 households with a PC (80 per cent with broadband). Public facilities and tourist spots are completely covered by wireless data networks, which was a focus for Ma when he was Mayor of Taipei through two terms and eight years, 1998 to 2004. “My aim was, more internet traffic, less road traffic,” he said.

The handsome, 56-year-old Ma (he looks a lot younger) is one of Taiwan's most popular politicians, with a strong following, particularly among women, and businessmen. The Hong-Kong-born Ma speaks flawless English and has a law degree from Taiwan, an LLM from NYU, USA, and an SJD degree from Harvard. He was on his second visit to India--the first was ten years ago—and plans to return, preferably as president of Taiwan, and he hopes for more conducive policies for improved India-Taiwan trade.