MWC May Offer Potential Business to Taiwan's ICT Manufacturers

Taiwan's information-communications technology (ICT) manufacturers look forward to realizing potential business after the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2014, which ended March 27 in Barcelona, Spain.

Catcher Technology Co., Ltd. and Largan Precision Co., Ltd. are among the island's manufacturers expected to land contracts from smartphone exhibitors including Samsung, Sony, LG, and Huawei. Contracts from wearable-device exhibitors may come to Taiwan's flexible printed circuit board makers. The island's manufacturers of network-connectivity equipment are expected to win orders from LTE (Long Term Evolution) system suppliers.

Samsung demonstrated Galaxy S5 as its flagship smartphone while Sony pitched Xperia Z2 in response. Catcher is expected to supply metal housings for the two makers, with observers saying that Galaxy S5 would adopt metal housing while Xperia Z2 would use the same metal housing as Xperia Z1's. Catcher already supplies Z1's housing.

Once Xperia Z2 proves popular, other Taiwanese contract manufacturers including Arima Communications Corp., Compal Electronics Inc., and FIH Mobile Ltd. are expected to land contracts.

Largan is likely to win contracts to supply lens for Galaxy S5's built-in digital camera given its success in supplying Samsung with high-end lens for S5's predecessors.

Silitech Technology Co., Ltd. is likely to strive for Samsung's contracts to supply S5's magnesium inner mechanical structure, but had decided not to vie for such parts used in the Galaxy Note 3 because of low contract volume and profitability.

The island's suppliers of network-connectivity equipment, including Sercomm Corp., Gemtek Technology Co., Ltd., D-Link Corp., and ZyXEL Communications Corp., exhibited connectivity solutions to LTE system at the show to lure orders from infrastructure-equipment suppliers. (KL)