Taiwan is recognised globally for its profitable and innovative high-tech electronics industries. Helen Carmichael talks to honorary chairman of Taiwan’s BOC Lienhwa, John Miao, about how the company has stayed one step ahead in this fast-paced growth business.
During the 1960’s and 1970’s the Taiwan economic structure evolved from handicraft into light industry. Oxygen and acetylene supplied by Lien Hwa Industrial Corporation (LHIC) to the light machinery industry and to the steel industry contributed to this critical transition.
“During the 1980’s when the heavy industries, the petrochemical industry and the high technology industries were developing as part of the 10 major government construction programmes, we again played a major role through the supply of high quality nitrogen and argon,” John Miao explains. The company supplied industries such as steel and petrochemicals in the 1980’s, and as Taiwan’s industrial interests shifted to include semiconductors in the 1990’s, the company followed suit by supplying speciality gases for this industry too.
Meanwhile, UK-based BOC also experienced significant increases in sales of nitrogen and speciality gases during the 1980’s in particular to the electronics industries. In 1984 Lien Hwa Industrial Corporation (LHIC) and BOC formed a joint venture, BOC Lienhwa Industrial Gases (BOCLH), which has gone on to become a leading supplier to virtually every sector of Taiwanese industry, including electronics, engineering, chemicals, petroleum, marine, aerospace, metallurgy, healthcare and food. LHIC was Taiwan’s largest gas supplier and BOC stood to benefit from the venture by sharing the company’s significant local knowledge and customer base.
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