Lin Dewang invested in the field of wire and cable 75 years ago, and accumulated abundant strength in the 10 major construction eras. After the second generation Lin Zhiming took over, he continued his father’s legacy, led TA TUN Electric Wire & Cable Co., Ltd to the highest standard, and invested in the green energy trading business, looking at Southeast Asia.

In March, the business asked me, can the company still take orders? Because the production capacity is not only full this year, but also full all the way to tomorrow and the year after.” Lin Zhiming, the 50-year-old chairman of TA TUN, who took over at the age of 33, took reporters to visit the Wanping Taoyuan bayberry factory with a high degree of automation on the first line. In 2022, Taipower proposed a plan to strengthen the power grid, and it is expected to invest 564.5 billion yuan in 10 years to upgrade Taiwan’s power grid system. However, among the four companies in Taiwan (TA TUN, Daya, Heji, Huarong) that can supply 345kV (kilovolt) ultra-high voltage power grids, TA TU has the longest history, but it is the last company to enter the capital market, and it was only registered in Xingzhou in May this year.
TA TUN Electric Wire & Cable Co., Ltd was founded in July 1962, four months before Daya; It has been more than 75 years since the founder Lin Dewang stepped into this industry.

In line with Taipower’s high standards, surpass Datong

UHV 345kV is currently the highest level of wire and cable, and because the wire and cable is a national facility, Taipower’s evaluation standards are more stringent, and the certification system is up to 345kV, from 25kV to 69kV, 161kV and then to 345kV.
TA TUN’s main products are ultra-high voltage cables, medium and high voltage cables, low-voltage cables and rubber cables, accounting for 85.7% of revenue, which is a very pure wire and cable factory. In the past three years, the revenue has continued to grow, reaching 4.22 billion yuan in 2023, with a growth rate of 8.21%, a gross profit margin of 15.3%, an after-tax net profit of 410 million yuan, and an EPS (net profit per share) of 12.17 yuan.
In the early years, the wires and cables of Japan’s high-speed rail can be seen in the products of TATUN, and recently provided 345kV ultra-high voltage cables to the two major hubs of Taiwan Electric Power – Longtan ultra-high voltage substation in Taoyuan City and Longqi ultra-high voltage substation in Tainan City, which are important trunk lines of South Power to the north. It has also contracted the expansion project of Taichung Power Plant, No. 8 and No. 9 gas recirculation units of Taoyuan Datan Power Plant, and the renewal and reconstruction of gas units of Kaohsiung Xingda Power Plant; TSMC Factory 18 Baoshan Plant, Zhuke World Advanced Plant 1 and other advanced semiconductor rubber cables. So far, TA TUN has completed more than 48 cable lines and 78 substations, connecting the entire Taiwan for more than 15,000 kilometers.
In 2022, TATUN won the GE International Excellent Supplier Award, with a ratio of 6:4 for state-owned and private businesses, and it was the hidden champion in the industry before it was listed.

Received orders from Japan and obtained technology transfer.

The chairman said that his father was born in the Japanese occupation era, and in his early years, he entered the business of repairing electrical appliances and pulling wires in the military camp, and later engaged in the distribution of wire-related businesses. In 1949, it began to produce bare copper wire, and gradually entered the cable manufacturing, and then due to the performance of the original site was not enough, in 1970, after setting up a factory in Taoyuan Bade, it opened an opportunity for rapid growth. In the 1970s, President Chiang Ching-kuo promoted the 10 major constructions, and TA TUN began to turn to the main project of receiving Taiwan Power Bids, and the first set of 25kV equipment purchased at that time was the most advanced equipment in the industry in Taiwan. Lin Zhiming said: “A set of 6 or 70 million yuan, my father said he would buy it, which shows that he is very courageous.”
In 1981, TA TUN passed the inspection of Taipower, and it happened that the construction in the Middle East began, and almost every wire and cable factory in Taiwan was fully loaded. At that time, Taitungpco accumulated abundant strength, with an annual turnover of hundreds of millions of yuan, and also received orders from Japan. Japan’s Sanwa Electric Wire wants to find a partner in Taiwan, specializing in two special types of wire for automobile emergency wire and small household appliance power cord, and personally sends high-level cadres to TA TUN to teach from production and construction, route planning, etc., so that TA TUN ‘s technology has greatly leaped forward, and it has become the key to the close integration of TA TUN and Japanese technology.
Later, Sanwa Electric Wire was acquired by Furukawa as a subsidiary, and TA TUN ‘s 345kV production capacity was transferred and coached by Furukawa Electric Group. Around 1990, the most common on the market is 25kV cable, but with the gradual saturation of the market and many competitors, my father asked me to study 69kV and 161kV very early, Lin Zhiming found that the rough estimate of the investment equipment exceeded 400 million yuan, and it took two and a half years to see the effect. Fortunately, Lin Dewang supported his son and set up another bayberry factory in 1994.
Finally, in 2001, TA TUN passed the 69kV and 161kV power cable finalization test of Taipower. However, in 2001, Lin Dewang passed away, TA TUN fell into a divergence in business direction, the concept of the two generations did not agree, coupled with the order window, the company faced a low ebb in operation, until 2007 It was determined that the youngest son Lin Zhiming would take over, and the company gradually stabilized.
In 2011, Lin Zhiming saw the industry trend and decided to invest in the 345kV field. Lin Zhiming pointed out that the cable is large in size and has high requirements in the production environment, which has certain barriers to entry, including capital cost, time and technical thresholds; In addition, the purchase of a 345kV machine with hundreds of millions of yuan will have to wait for 18 months, “not losing TSMC’s time to wait for EUV machines”, and it will take at least 3 years to obtain qualification certification and continuous correction all the way. In 2015, TA TUN obtained the qualification of 345kV shipment from Taipower.

The industry aims at Taipower’s sideline business to attack energy storage.

Taipower’s certification system is rigorous, any certification must go through the application and review process, including finalization test, review of finalization test report, etc., 345kV alone, a total of more than 100 test items, one of which is called 365 days cycle aging test, this test alone will take at least 1 year to simulate the aging degree of the cable after 20 years. In addition, how to combine temperature, pressure and other scenarios to produce the best benefits, as well as the formula are the threshold, during which there have been several failures, “with 1 ton of copper wire for 10,000 US dollars, we have continuously tested and lost at least hundreds of tons of copper in the process, and we dare not count it anymore…”
There are still many opportunities for TA TUN Electric Wire & Cable Co., Ltd. in the future. First of all, in addition to aiming at Taipower’s tough grid project and holding tens of billions of dollars in orders, Lin Chi-Ming will also set up another company called “TUN GREEN POWER Co., Ltd.” in 2022. Last year, the Hualien energy storage plant was put into operation, and in May of this year, it became a qualified power switching vendor, formally going online to provide Taipower’s FM power service, with the goal of completing the construction of a total of more than 150 MW (megawatts) of energy storage systems by 2025. Thirdly, he has confirmed that he will export Taiwan’s experience to Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, and has already set up five overseas companies to capture global power business opportunities.

Source of information-https://www.wealth.com.tw/articles/3aab0d29-695f-4ed7-afd7-685ac2b4bc4e?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1dAUk1rcfieJtPu2CMGbQWurZBsCowoNWgbYg-0SRJS7QrOlsYoACWfkI_aem_YJouz230mKChu2GoTSW2rQ