(Central News Agency reporter Jiang Mingyan, Taipei, 25th) Navigation and wearable brand Garmin has 90% of its production capacity in Taiwan. In order to strengthen the resilience of the supply chain, it is expected to announce its first move to Southeast Asia in May this year to set up a factory. It will be officially put into production in 2026 to serve automobile customers nearby. For automotive navigation products, we do not rule out expanding our production base in the future to prepare for tariff barriers.
Garmin held a 35th anniversary media press conference today, premiered the global image video, and invited spokesperson Chen Tingni to stand. In an interview with the media after the meeting, Lin Mengyuan, deputy general manager of marketing and business of Garmin Asia, said regarding the status of the production lines that the strong earthquake on April 3 affected some Taiwan production lines. Although they were only shut down for half a day, production was quickly restarted. However, due to the upstream TSMC Chip supply is affected, affecting downstream shipment schedules.
He further explained that because some of Garmin’s best-selling products have a delivery time of only about 1 week, and sea and air logistics have very tight schedules, short-term shipments will be affected, but the impact will fade in about 2 to 3 weeks. In terms of scope, there are more than two suppliers for different components, which will continue to strengthen the resilience of the supply chain.
Garmin chairman and co-founder Gao Minhuan is Taiwanese. In the past when most Taiwanese businessmen went to mainland China to set up factories, they still insisted on keeping production capacity in Taiwan. Currently, 90% of Garmin’s production capacity is in Taiwan, and Taiwan has recently reached 10,000 employees. Milestones for employees account for more than half of the entire group.
Garmin has factories in Xizhi, Zhongli, and Linkou in Taiwan. After expanding production in Tainan in 2021, it has also set up a manufacturing R&D center in Baogao Park, Xindian, and is actively investing in Taiwan. The remaining production capacity is located in the United States and Europe. Currently, it has The 7 production bases mainly come from the acquisition of companies of different categories, and the production lines have become more diversified and complex.
In order to strengthen the resilience of the supply chain, Garmin has prepared to set up factories in Southeast Asia. Lin Mengyuan revealed that the production location is expected to be announced in May, and the reserved production area will be larger than Taiwan’s production capacity. It will make long-term plans for the next 10 or even 30 years. The initial Thai production line will be used to produce vehicles. Mainly use navigation OEM products.
He emphasized that Garmin has never focused on lowering production costs as its main profit orientation. This is the reason why production in Taiwan has not been relocated for many years; production in Southeast Asia is to serve the local supply chain of automobile customers nearby, and is expected to be officially put into production in 2026. , in the future, it will not rule out expanding the production base and preparing for tariff barriers, but it has not set a target for the proportion of Taiwan and overseas production.
He also said that Garmin still hopes to stick to manufacturing in Taiwan. Apart from supply chain resilience issues, Taiwan, its talent and dedicated culture are very valuable.
Looking forward to this year, he pointed out that Garmin’s annual financial forecast predicts that global revenue will grow by 10% annually, and Asia grew by 19% last year. This year, due to the impact of Japan’s foreign exchange losses and China’s slow recovery, the growth will be better than the global average, reaching 10%. %above.
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He further said that China’s current consumption power is recovering slowly and is waiting for the situation to improve. The Japanese currency’s exchange loss has allowed the Japanese business to offset 20%. Fortunately, the growth momentum in Southeast Asia is strong. Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia are all in pretty good conditions. Taiwan It is a mature market and the target for this year is to grow by about 10%.
In terms of the automotive market, he said that due to the decline in demand for car navigation, there is still demand in the second-wheel market, such as electric motorcycle navigation. Garmin has also recently cooperated with YAMAHA electric vehicles. (Editor: Yang Lanxuan) 1130425
