Taiwan enterprises benefit from mainland's digital transformation

China

Taiwan enterprises benefit from mainland's digital transformation

2025-03-16 22:58 Last Updated At：23:37

Nearly 100 Taiwan-invested enterprises in east China's Xiamen City have participated in the city's digital transformation scheme for small and medium-sized enterprises, which significantly boosted production efficiency for the companies.

Xiamen is one of the inaugural cities in the country piloting the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Taiwan-invested companies that signed up for digital upgrades covered a wide range of industries including electronic devices, power transmission and distribution and medical instruments.

In the production workshop of a Taiwan-funded circuit board company, digital screens display real-time operations, intelligent robots transport materials, and automatic pickers can quickly match the missing raw materials in the production process. A seven-step production line requires only four technicians.

"They guided us in the digital system construction, process transformation, and some intelligent analysis. Our production efficiency has improved by about 10 percent to 15 percent," said Yang Zhijian, factory director of Junling Electronics (Xiamen) Company.

Some Taiwan-funded enterprises are also actively promoting the digital transformation of the industrial chain and supply chain.

"We have assisted more than 30 enterprises to complete digital assessment, and more than 20 enterprises to finish special transformation, effectively helping enterprises to solve the problems of low production efficiency and quality control," said Li Yong, consulting director of Youda Zhihui Intelligent Manufacturing (Xiamen) Company.

According to statistics, the average production cost after the transformation is reduced by 15 percent, and the management efficiency is also greatly improved.

"We are also encouraging these [digital] service providers to go global and take advantage of cross-strait exchanges and BRICS relations to help companies go overseas. We will also specifically organize supply and demand matching meetings between service providers and Taiwan-funded enterprises," said Song Luwen, director of Department of Small and Medium Enterprises under Xiamen Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology.

Middle East conflict drives up energy costs: European Commission president

The Middle East conflict has imposed heavy economic costs on Europe, driving up energy prices and adding billions of euros to import bills, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.

"Since the beginning of the conflict, gas prices have risen by 50 percent and oil prices by 27 percent," von der Leyen told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

She said 10 days of war had already cost European taxpayers an extra 3 billion euros (3.48 billion U.S. dollars) for fossil fuel imports.

Von der Leyen said the European Commission is assessing additional measures to lower energy bills, including a possible cap on gas prices.

She said the EU had diversified its fossil fuel supplies in recent years, but "this does not mean that we are immune to price shocks. Energy markets are global."

The surge marks the second time in recent years that geopolitical conflict has triggered sharp rises in EU energy costs, following the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022.

The commission is also pushing nuclear power to boost production and cut prices. Von der Leyen announced on Tuesday a 200 million euro (231.75 million dollar) EU guarantee to support private investment in innovative nuclear technologies.

EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen urged member states on Tuesday to cut energy taxes where possible, particularly on electricity, to lower consumer bills.

The commission on Tuesday also unveiled a Clean Energy Investment Strategy aimed at channeling private financing into power grids, clean energy technologies and energy efficiency.