Industrial PC maker Advantech Co (研華) yesterday said it has launched its ASEAN Shared Service Center (ASSC) in Penang, Malaysia, as the company steps up efforts to target the Asia-Pacific region in shift from China.
“The establishment of ASSC in Penang signifies the company’s initial phase in implementing the ‘China Plus One’ strategy,” Advantech managing director for Asia and intercontinental region Vincent Chang (張敏忠) said in a statement.
The company’s goal is to support industrial users in project implementation and in-depth development, while also reinforcing regional core competencies and localized services, Chang said.
Photo courtesy of Advantech Co
“Penang, dubbed as the ‘Silicon Valley of the East’ and rich in multicultural talent, was selected for this purpose,” he said.
Along with the establishment of ASSC, the company signed a letter of intent with Piacom JSC, a system integrator affiliated with Vietnamese petroleum group Petrolimex, to offer complete solutions — covering both software and hardware — for the gas station industry in the region, Chang said.
In addition to delivering repair and maintenance services to regional customers, project integration and technical consultation, ASSC operates two production lines for product assembly, Advantech said.
The company said the center mainly caters to customers in Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.
The center would also assist customers in other Asia-Pacific markets, supporting them with digital transformation and artificial intelligence of things (AIoT) technology in Pakistan and the Philippines, it added.
Advantech yesterday also launched a “University Co-Creation Worldwide Expansion Plan” (UCC) as it aims to forge industry-academia collaboration, promote localized services and create a complete talent development ecosystem in the Asia-Pacific region.
The UCC plans to launch 12 AIoT laboratories in the next two years in cooperation with colleges and universities worldwide, the company said.
Advantech, the first regional industrial PC vendor dedicated to smart cities and the Internet of Things, saw consolidated revenue last year drop 6.08 percent year-on-year to NT$64.57 billion (US$2.06 billion), as the company faced multiple challenges from high global inflation, geopolitical conflicts and uncertainties regarding the recovery of China’s economy.
Japan was the best-performing market last year with 10 percent growth annually, while Taiwan, China and emerging markets registered double-digit percentage declines, and North America and Europe single-digit percentage falls, company data showed.
This year, the company expects a return in growth and looks at operational efficiency optimization in the short term, driven by new orders for emerging IoT applications and deployment for new markets in the second half of the year, it said.
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