# IT:S. Korea or Taiwan



## Handsome (May 2, 2005)

Taiwan by far,

yes,Korea has some famous brand such as SAMSUNG and LG.

but except these,Korea has nothing to compare with Taiwan.


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## Handsome (May 2, 2005)

alsen said:


> yea..you can deny that thier movies,drama,music ..etc is a 'bomb' right now :cheers:


I dont like koran drama,they are always draggy,and their gut are argely identical but with minor differences.


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## coldstar (Jan 14, 2003)

Handsome said:


> I dont like koran drama,they are always draggy,and their gut are argely identical but with minor differences.


Fully agree.  Its 'bomb' has already disappeared. (brief life. only one year)


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## Tintin27 (Feb 3, 2005)

I think both countries have developed very very fast. both of them are NICs and in technology terms both of them are catching up with Japan. Taiwan is one of the hub for Hardware and rite now focusing on R&D as well.. Korea, more into automobiles,Ship making, and ofcourse electronic home appliances... We have a korean fast food takeaway here rite outside my house, he sells korean noodles, fried chicken(competing with KFC I guess!!), but their company Hansol, also manufactures Digital locks at their factory..


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## hetfield85 (Jun 18, 2005)

1)S.Korea
2)Taiwan


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## Almenac-SS (Jul 17, 2005)

Handsome said:


> Taiwan by far,
> 
> yes,Korea has some famous brand such as SAMSUNG and LG.
> 
> but except these,Korea has nothing to compare with Taiwan.



If your saying it like that.. then i can say the same about Taiwan..

Taiwan has Asus and Benq or whatever small to middle class companies... but except those, Korea has WORLD CLASS brands like Samsung, Lg, SK Telecom that Taiwan cannot compare with...

its all the same.. having HUGE corporations vs. Small companies for IT.. both have their own advantages and drawbacks to the development of IT...

And another thing.. I dont think Japan is still a huge player in Information Technology in comparison to S.Korea or Taiwan... There isnt much of a big gap.


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## Gordion (Oct 26, 2005)

S. Korea!!


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## tiger (Aug 21, 2004)

S Korea definitely.


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## SUNNI (Sep 20, 2002)

many Taiwanese companies copy Korean compnaies, so the answer is obvious


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## SUNNI (Sep 20, 2002)

and if you didnt realise, Samsung is the largest electronics company in Asia


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## Modernization (Apr 3, 2006)

Handsome said:


> I dont like koran drama,they are always draggy,and their gut are argely identical but with minor differences.


My sister will definitely pick S. Korea for her love of their drama and music


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## zergcerebrates (Jan 23, 2004)

Taiwan, even LG had to go to Taiwan to shop for tech gizmos to apply it to their own. Open up a Samsung,or LG electronic and you'll see most are from Taiwan or China.


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## Sen (Nov 13, 2004)

that's because it's cheaper to outsource the production rather than setting up your own plants and manage them...

it's called OEM....


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## Sen (Nov 13, 2004)

wigo said:


> But I choose S Korea too, because many people know Samsong, which already put Sony in deep stress.


Samsung didn't put Sony in deep stress, Sony puts itself in deep stress, it messed up its own product line and insisted on keeping useless standards like MemoryStick, ATRACT-PLUS which are only used by Sony,


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## Intoxication (Jul 24, 2005)

S.Korea is better at producing TV's. Mobiles, whilst Taiwan is better at 'chip' production. I say Korea.


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## Sen (Nov 13, 2004)

actually we should be aware of the usage of word IT,I think it only includes software, and hardware occasionally, NOT CONSUMER ELECTRONICS. in that case, you WILL HAVE to vote for Taiwan, and India is better than both Taiwan and SK.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_technology


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## thyrdrail (Jul 25, 2004)

i think both countries either lead each other in different tech sectors or they tie. i think s. korea gets more attention as a tech powerhouse because they have more brand name, globally recognized companies than taiwan. but taiwan certainly has tons of companies that are as technologically advanced or more advanced than korean companies. it's just that taiwanese companies never really had the interest to develop their own brands until recently. they were happy being profitable oem companies. you see that changing now with acer, benq, au optronics, among others.

personally, i think taiwan definitely leads south korea in computer technology. every computer i've bought - big name brands like dell and hp - and every peripheral i've bought like mice, routers, hard drives, dvd drives, etc. has been made by a taiwanese company or some company owned by a taiwanese company. if you look in the back of the product, most likely it will say made in taiwan or made in china or some other country (by a taiwanese owned or invested company). taiwanese companies nowadays dont just manufacture products based on other companies' designs, they design the product as well as develop the technology. but in terms of marketing, they still lag behind the big global companies. but i believe in time they will catch up.


from korea times newspaper:

*Taiwan Passes Korea as Top Large LCD Maker*

SEOUL (Yonhap) ㅡ South Korea was eclipsed by Taiwan as the world’s biggest producer of large liquid crystal display panels in the first quarter of this year for the first time, according to an international market researcher Thursday.
During the three-month period, South Korean producers’ share of the global market for large LCDs measuring more than 10 inches diagonally, used mainly for televisions and computers, stood at 44 percent compared with Taiwan’s 46 percent, U.S.- based DisplaySearch said in a statement.

South Korea, led by two industry leaders Samsung Electronics Co. and LG.Philips LCD, had long dominated the global LCD market, but its grip is now being threatened by increased competition as flat panels increasing provide lower profit margins, some analysts say.

Taiwan, home to producers such as AU Optronics, Chi Mei Optoelectronics and other smaller makers, has emerged as the top producer of large LCD panels with multiple suppliers increasing new capacities simultaneously, DisplaySearch said.

Officials at both Samsung Electronics and LG.Philips LCD declined to comment on the report.

On May 24, another U.S.-based researcher iSuppli issued a similar report, warning that South Korea was on the verge of losing its leadership in LCD panel production.

ISuppli’s data showed Taiwan accounted for a 52.2 percent share, compared with South Korea’s 37.4 percent during the first quarter of 2006.

“Taiwan will remain the leader in LCD panel production for the foreseeable future,” Lidow said in the statement. 


06-01-2006 17:55


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## thyrdrail (Jul 25, 2004)

from LA Times:

*GLOBAL REPORT*

Taiwan Displays Know-How in Flat-Panel Business
By Kathrin Hille, Financial Times
May 29, 2006 


TAIPEI, Taiwan — When Taiwan overtook South Korea last year as the world's largest production base for flat-panel screens, no one in the industry was surprised.

As with semiconductors and many other electronic components, the island's producers were able, through their skill at contract manufacturing, to corner a large part of the market quickly.

ADVERTISEMENTWith their raised manufacturing profile has come a technological prowess in the display industry developed in a few short years.

"While Samsung and our other Korean peers are still leading in overall technology, there are specific areas in which we have caught up or are even ahead," said Liu Chun-ting, vice president and head of research at AU Optronics, Taiwan's largest flat-panel maker.

Industry experts say it is not only AUO that is making swift progress on technology. So are Taiwan's No. 2, Chi Mei Optoelectronics, and to a lesser extent its second-tier flat-panel makers.

"They have had a steeper learning curve than the Japanese and Koreans," said Annabelle Hsu, a liquid-crystal display analyst at Market Intelligence Center, a government-funded think tank.

The need to meet the requirements of global customers has forced Taiwan's panel makers to stay at the forefront of production technology and performance quality, just as it spurred chip foundries and downstream electronics contract manufacturers.

Chi Mei, for example, which only a few years ago was struggling to make large flat screens good enough for Japanese brand-name customers, is able to offer 56-inch display panels with four times the resolution required for digital TV panels for specialized professional customers.

"This is far more than anything needed in the consumer market but goes to customers in the medical services, defense and design industries," said Lin Wen-tsung, head of product development at Chi Mei's LCD TV division.

In AUO's case, standards it developed for some monitor and notebook panels have been used by the whole industry since late 2002. The company was the world's first to introduce 17-inch monitor panels with 16 milliseconds' response time and certain wide-format notebook panels.

AUO has made inroads into image processing and color management, capabilities that are vital in the fast-growing market for large television panels.

However, the focus of AUO's research-and-development effort is on the less visible aspects of flat-panel production. The next phase of innovation will target power and material utilization that will further reduce costs for the manufacturer and the consumer, Liu said.

AUO, whose R&D headcount will rise from 900 to 1,500 after it completes a planned merger with smaller rival Quanta Display this year, spent $150 million on R&D last year.

Liu said much of its R&D budget was being spent on integrating components more effectively. "We often make a plastic frame as part of the module, and the TV set companies make another one. Much of that can be saved."

A focus of such research is the light source. Today older technologies using so-called punctual and linear light sources still dominate, creating the need for components that transform linear light, but new technologies such as organic light-emitting diodes will render such components superfluous.

Lin Wen-tsung, head of product development at Chi Mei's LCD TV division, said that in spite of eye-catching technology such as the company's 56-inch high-resolution panels, the most important innovations will improve efficiency and cut costs.

Chi Mei's latest achievement in this area is the "Eco TV," which has a backlight that adjusts power consumption to reflect the level of brightness in the picture and the environment.

For Taiwanese producers, the long-term strategy behind such efforts goes beyond making flat-screen televisions more affordable in Japan, Europe and the U.S.

"There are 10 million CRT units sold every month in developing countries," Liu said. "AUO is interested in all projects that can bring prices down by a large margin because these are the largest untapped markets in the world."


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## thyrdrail (Jul 25, 2004)

from BusinessWeek magazine:

JUNE 23, 2006 

InfoTech 100
By Peter Lorimer


*Taiwan Tech Hits the Big Time*

As companies break away from being merely suppliers, the island nation has a big showing in the BusinessWeek 2006 IT 100 

Taiwan's high-tech industry is one of the most underappreciated marvels of the world economy. Its companies may not be global brand names just yet, but they are increasingly proficient at original design and dominate manufacturing in key categories such as LCD screens, routers, notebook computers, and cable modems. 

These competitive strengths show clearly in BusinessWeek's 2006 IT 100 special report (see BusinessWeek, "The Info Tech 100"), which ranks global technology companies by such financial metrics as revenue growth, return on equity, and total return (capital appreciation plus reinvested dividends) to shareholders.

*More than a dozen of the island's technology players made the cut this year. That's a better showing than Japan and the biggest country representation on this year's honor roll outside the U.S. Hon Hai Precision and High Tech Computer—computer and peripheral equipment makers both enjoying incredible profit runs— grabbed the No. 2 and No. 3 rankings on the list.*

BRAND BUILDING. Add it all up, and this is a remarkable performance given that a decade ago Taiwan made components or assembled machines designed elsewhere and was only a marginal player in more lucrative segments of the electronics industry.

The big challenge now for Taiwanese companies is to develop the kind of profitable and well-regarded global brands that can ride out typical boom-and-bust cycles—and the non-stop pricing pressure from companies such as Dell (DELL) in desktop and notebook computers. In order to combat this squeeze, more and more of these tech companies have been branching out of their plain vanilla contract operations and building up products under their own names.

Take No. 3, High Tech Computer. The company has impressive growth and soaring profits, and investors have every reason to be pleased with this year's performance, especially as shareholder return hit 314%. Winning big contracts to make personal digital assistants, or PDAs, such as Hewlett Packard's (HPQ) iPAQ, and smart phones for T-mobile and Cingular, has been a key component of HTC's success, securing its position as one of the premier handset designers and manufacturers in the world.

But HTC has shown they're no longer content with the status quo. HTC chair Cher Wang recently acquired control of handset maker Dopod, suggesting she will now try to build up products under the company's own name.

RESPONSE TO CHALLENGE. Mitac, ranked No. 71 on this year's IT 100, has taken a similar branding route. As a leading manufacturer of PDAs and handsets equipped with global positioning satellite (GPS) capabilities, building products for companies such as Medion has helped Mitac. But development of Mio, Mitac's own GPS brand, has also been a huge success. As a result, GPS-related sales skyrocketed from 15% of sales in 2004 to 28.5% this past year. And more important, profit increased 130% to $150 million.

But the real question remains to be answered. As these Taiwanese companies look to build their own brands, how will industry giants respond to the dual roles of both supplier and potential challenger? That remains to be seen, but for now Taiwanese tech is on a very promising trajectory.


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## thyrdrail (Jul 25, 2004)

JUNE 5, 2006 
Technology
ZDNet Asia


from BusinessWeek magazine:


*Computex Kicks Off in Taiwan*

Some 130,00 visitors are expected to swarm Asia�s biggest IT trade show, beating last year�s attendance figures 

The number of visitors to Computex Taiwan is expected to surpass 130,000 this year when the doors to the world's second largest IT trade show opens Tuesday. 

According to event organizers, last year's show attracted 129,947 visitors, the highest turnout in its 25-year history. This year, some 133,000 visitors are expected to pack four halls of the Taipei World Trade Center and Taipei International Convention Center.

Like previous years, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council and the Taipei Computer Association (TCA) are co-organizing the event. 

Since its inception in 1981, the trade show has touted itself as a platform for IT vendors in Taiwan to showcase their products. Today, the closely-watched event is the world's second-largest IT trade show after CeBIT in Germany, and maintains its status as Asia's largest IT event. 

TCA Chairman Frank Huang said the show has grown with Taiwan's information technology industry over the past decades. 

*"That Computex has replaced Comdex as the world's second largest IT show demonstrated two things," he noted, in a statement. "First, it showed to the world Taiwan's strength in IT design and manufacturing and, to a larger extent, the emergence of Asia as the world's leader in information." 

He also pointed out that Taiwan's IT companies have evolved from original design and equipment manufacturers to some of the world's most famous brands. *

Acer, no doubt, is one such company that Huang had in mind. 

With an early focus on product design and educating Taiwan's next generation of engineers, the founders of Acer gradually established the Taiwanese company as one of the world's top PC makers today.

This year, cutting-edge technology players such as DS2, will be attempting to make their presence felt at Computex. The company specializes in powerline communications, an increasingly popular mode of broadband Internet access in Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea and China. 

Ramon Garcia, director of DS2's Asian office in Tokyo, told ZDNet Asia that his company will be demonstrating its new 200Mbps powerline technology at the show this year. 

Because of the large density in many Asian cities, Internet service providers have been deploying such technology to provide data, voice and video services within buildings, Garcia said.

Some 1,300 exhibitors will show their wares at Computex this year, and are also expected to lust over the prestigious 'Best Choice' product awards to be handed out at the event. The award was started in 2001 to encourage innovation in the Taiwanese IT industry, and to assist vendors in pursuing business opportunities abroad. 

The event organizers are inviting experts and scholars from the government, academic circles and the industry to take part in the selection process for the awards. This year, 22 products in 11 categories are expected to be awarded. The Asus A636 personal digital assistant and the BenQ CM3500 multifunction printer were among the winners last year. 

In addition to product showcases, a series of forums graced by industry experts will also be held on the exhibition grounds. At the e21 Forum, for instance, Anand Chandrasekher, Intel vice president and director of sales and marketing, will discuss the impact of technology's rapid change on consumers and businesses worldwide.

Other technology areas on show include Net telephony, PCs and notebooks, motherboards, software, car electronics and digital home systems.


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## Poryaa (Sep 26, 2004)

This thread is ugly.


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## feverwin (Feb 25, 2006)

I'm more worried about these days' politic movements in Taiwan, 6 years ago, I would say Taiwan, now I prefer SK...

Today's Taiwan hardly grows...


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