Taiwan’s electronics giant plans PH IPO

Taiwan’s electronics giant New Kinpo Group (NKG) is considering of conducting an initial public offering (IPO) in the Philippines as it plans to ramp up investments to $250 million over the next three years and penetrate the domestic market with the launch of its AI specifically designed for Filipino consumers.

NKG CEO Simon Shen told Business Bulletin they have a bigger purpose for the planned IPO other than the proceeds it may yield, noting that after eight years of electronics manufacturing in the country, they are now ready to tap the huge domestic market with its innovative products.

“What is more important is our reputation in the Philippines, we consider the domestic market a big potential for us so while we grow the exports market we also try to grow in the domestic market,” Shen said.

Proceeds from the IPO may also be used partly for future expansion as they continue to build more factories, which they expect to reach eight by the third quarter of next year.

NKG aims to increase investments to $250 million in three years from the current $180 million, according to Shen. Company revenues from the Philippines may also hit $500 million this year and $720 million in 2019 from $297 million in 2017.

NKG plans to introduce two AI products next year in the Philippines: Smart Mirror and Smart Speaker. Depending on the market, the company also plans to produce these products here. Smart Mirror is produced in Thailand, the only other ASEAN country where NKG has manufacturing operation.

According to Shen, NKG is developing an AI for its smart speaker with special language capability. It can communicate in the Tagalog-English language to suit to the targeted Filipino domestic market. This is on top of its English language capability.

NKG’s smart speaker’s unique TagLish language will differentiate it from all other smart speakers of other companies that have only the English language capability.

“We already have 130 engineers in the Philippines working with our Taiwanese engineers,” added Shen.

On top of that, the company is launching also next year in the country its Smart Beauty Mirror to take advantage of the huge beauty business.

The smart mirror has the capability to analyze skin types, imperfections and collect these data into what could be the world’s first skin data bank. Shen said the smart mirror will not store the image of the user nor his or her personal data, just the skin analysis.

The mirror is equipped with a technology that also connects the user to recommendations for products suited for one’s skin and on to the vendor of these beauty products. Product orders for delivery can also be done via the smart mirror.

The mirror’s software is upgraded periodically to scale up its capability and applications.

“We are the first one to introduce this product,” said Shen, whose portfolio of 18 business units under the NKG has estimated combined revenues of $6.8 billion out of the overall $38-billion company revenue.

From its first investment in 2010, NKG has grown to four entities in the country - AcBel Polytech (Philippines), Cal-Comp Technology (Philippines), Inc., the parent company of Kinpo Electronics (Philippines), Inc., and Cal-Comp Precision (Philippines). It is the country’s largest Taiwanese investor registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.

At present, these firms produce various electronics products at its factories in Calamba, Laguna and Sto. Tomas, Batangas employing a total of 10,000 workers.

NKG has been producing printed circuit board assemblies, switching power supplies, transformer, and cable assemblies, graphic calculators, calculators, electronic keyboards, LEDs, hard disk drive PCBAs, external hard disk drives and various home appliance products, and plastic injection parts.These products are mostly exported to US, EU, China and Asia.

“We continue to grow our manufacturing and export business as well as expand in the local market,” Shen said.