Taipei:Taiwan's drone industry must develop supply chains capable of sustaining production during extended conflicts, instead of relying solely on stockpiles, according to AerosoarX Chairman Max Lo. Drawing insights from Russia's war in Ukraine, Lo emphasized the need for production capacity across the entire supply chain at his company's first public event since its establishment in April.
According to Focus Taiwan, Lo highlighted that in a war of attrition, substantial inventories could be quickly depleted. He stressed that ongoing production and replenishment would be crucial for endurance, suggesting the establishment of manufacturing operations in multiple countries with shared assembly specifications. This would allow production to continue if one location were disrupted by conflict or blockade.
Lo, who also chairs the Taiwan National Drone Industry Association, proposed cooperation on common standards, joint procurement, distributed production, and shared reserve inventories. He reflected on his past experience at Geosat Aerospace & Technology, noting that the previous in-house development approach is now too slow for rapidly evolving needs.
AerosoarX aims to position Taiwan as a hub for system integration and modular design, with Vietnam and Malaysia as potential supply-chain and assembly hubs. Company co-founder and CEO Jason Wu emphasized the need for a commercially sustainable network that extends beyond Taiwan's domestic market, while Lo acknowledged the economic challenges of reducing reliance on Chinese suppliers. He advocated for smaller operations that serve international customers to maintain flexibility and production capacity during emergencies.
