Its new facility is expected to boost the country's standing as a global gateway for regional companies.

 

Global leading optoelectronics supplier, Lite-On Technology Corp, has opened Lite-On Singapore, its new Regional Headquarters (RHQ) and Research & Development (R&D) centre in the Republic. Located in an 11,000-sq-ft facility at Woodlands Industrial Park, Lite-On Singapore will comprise the Taiwan-based company's new strategic business unit, Optical Communication Solutions (OCS), which is made up of three divisions - Infrared Data Association (IrDA), Optocoupler, and Sensor Solutions.

The R&D centre will serve as a one-stop design hub to expand the company's product portfolio to serve worldwide markets in consumer, automotive, communication and industrial applications. It will also be dedicated to the development of cutting-edge and high value-added products for OCS, based on a total solution approach that includes software and system levels.

"The setting up of this facility in Singapore is an important milestone in Lite-On's progress towards being the No. 1 global leader in digital converged devices," says Terng Kheng Chung, Chief Executive Officer, Lite-On Technology Corp. "The RHQ will provide a strong foundation for Lite-On Technology to serve and meet the needs of our global customer base, while the new R&D centre will enable Lite-On Technology to introduce innovative products into the global markets, and position us for long-term competitive advantage."

One of the immediate and key priorities for Lite-On Singapore towards that goal is to recruit more R&D talent. "Our aim is to build the R&D centre with a fully functional team inclusive of highly-skilled IC (integrated circuit) designers, process/product engineers, software engineers, optics designers and system architecture," says Ngoh Kee Hane, Vice President and General Manager, Lite-On Singapore. "We hope to develop and offer a total solution to our customers to ease their design-in activities as time-to-market is very important to them."

Strategic Forward Planning

The new RHQ is a major marker for Lite-On, setting the pace for its entry into the next phase of development. At present, Lite-On Singapore has more than 30 employees, but over the next four years, it plans to more than triple the current headcount. The Group's track record, however, was established a long way back.

For the past 33 years, Lite-On has held on to the No. 1 position in Taiwan's LED industry - an accomplishment of note by all counts. And beyond Taiwan, the company, which sees an annual turnover of S$7.4 billion (US$5.4 billion), has grown to become an international enterprise with 40,000 employees and 32 factories worldwide.

Among Lite-On's many LED products, photocouplers make up 14 per cent of global market share, and it is the world's largest notebook adapter manufacturer, holding a 40 per cent global market share. The company's other major products include projector power supplies, phone camera modules, keyboards and enclosures, and its primary objective is for all product lines to be No. 1 in Taiwan, and top three in the global market.

For Singapore, Lite-On's presence serves as yet another endorsement of the country's key standing as a regional gateway for global companies and a global gateway for regional companies.

Singapore Is Global Gateway

For Singapore, Lite-On's presence serves as yet another endorsement of the country's key standing as a regional gateway for global companies and a global gateway for regional companies. These companies leverage the Republic's pro-business environment, excellent infrastructure, extensive connectivity, skilled manpower and high standard of governance, making the city-state a critical hub in their global business operation.

"We help bring the world's businesses to Asia through Singapore. These companies use Singapore as a command and control centre to manage their regional businesses. Likewise, Singapore is well-positioned to bring Asia's businesses to the world; regional companies use Singapore as an effective base to internationalise their business," observes Ko Kheng Hwa, Managing Director, Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). "Increasingly they conduct the entire value chain of activities from Singapore, including R&D, manufacturing and regional management."

Lite-On joins 900 Taiwanese companies with substantial operations here. Among them: Mediatek, Taiwan's top fabless IC design company, which has a sizeable facility here; UMC, the world's second largest semiconductor foundry, which operates a multi-billion wafer fabrication plant here; and ASUS, the world's top computer motherboard manufacturer has a local site for its industrial design centre and RHQ.

Adds Ko, "I am confident that the opening of Lite-On's RHQ and R&D centre in Singapore will shine a lot more light on the attractiveness of Singapore to Taiwanese companies and encourage more of them to consider setting up operations here. With the opening of Lite-On Singapore, we believe this partnership will bring about significant growth opportunities for Lite-On."