Hi everyone, this is Lauly helming #techAsia this week. I’m writing this newsletter next to a rice paddy in the northern Taiwanese city of Taoyuan, where I have attended the opening of UPS’s largest logistics centre in the Asia-Pacific.
The US company didn’t pick this location for its 81,000 sq metre, nearly $100mn facility because of its proximity to rice paddies, of course. Rather, it is only about 5km from the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
Lauren Zhao, president of Asia Pacific supply chain solutions for UPS, said Taiwan’s strategic position in the global high-tech supply chain was the driving force in the company’s decision to deploy a more comprehensive network here. It was interesting to learn that Applied Materials of the US, a critical supplier of chip production equipment to TSMC, is already the largest single customer for this logistics centre — its goods occupy nearly half of the four-story building. The chip equipment supplier can access the logistics centre to retrieve its components and parts 24 hours a day to serve its customer.