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KUALA LUMPUR:In light of the growing interest in e-sports, Taiwan Excellence, which represents the best of Taiwanese innovation, is showcasing Taiwan’s strength in the ICT industry at the Taiwan Excellence Hi-Tech Week at Plaza Low Yat this week.

Director of Taiwan Trade Centre, KL Representative Office Tasha Hsiao said trade between Malaysia and Taiwan grew 22.1% to US$23.75 billion (RM98 billion) in 2018, driven mainly by the ICT industry, Taiwan’s featured industry.

Taiwan is strong in the ICT industry and we want to use this event to deepen Malaysians’ awareness on Taiwan Excellence and confidence on Taiwanese products. We also hope to bring these products to Malaysia on a B2B (business-to-business) basis,” she told SunBiz. Taiwan Excellence honours outstanding Taiwanese innovations based on stringent criteria such as functionality, design, quality and marketing. Hsiao said one third of the winners announced by Taiwan Excellence yearly involve ICT-related products.

Taiwan’s ICT products are now gearing towards high-end to carve a niche in the industrial computer market to cater to Industry 4.0, as well as e-sports. In the hardware segment for e-sports, Taiwanese products make up 60% of the global market. In Malaysia, Taiwanese brands like MSI, Asus and Acer are well known in e-sports,” said Hsiao.

In Budget 2019, RM10 million was allocated to Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation for use in developing e-sports.

The Taiwan Excellence Hi-Tech Week, which runs until Sunday, will feature 55 innovative solutions by 24 Taiwanese companies across three main categories, including top-of-the-line e-sports products, lifestyle gadgets and other innovative technologies.

Thermaltake Technology Co Ltd country assistant manager for Malaysia and Singapore Kuan Yee Wei said it sees potential in the e-sports market as there are many gamers in Malaysia and that e-sports is also a growing trend.

He said Thermaltake, whose main products are its cooling system and chassis, plans to grow its gaming peripherals to contribute 20% of its sales this year, from less than 10% now.

“This year, we will focus on e-sports so we will participate in tournaments and IT fairs to create more brand awareness,” said Kuan.

He added that it will open its Thermaltake Concept Store in Plaza Low Yat next Monday, the first in Southeast Asia, to provide hands-on experience to users due to the rise of the e-sport community in the country. It also has a cyber cafe Thermaltake Cafe in Bandar Sunway.

Meanwhile, Gigabyte Malaysia marketing representative Schumann Farn said it is pushing its premium gaming brand Aorus this year to contribute 90% of its sales, from 70% now as e-sports is gaining momentum in the country.

Gigabyte’s core products are its motherboards and graphic cards but gaming products typically fetch a higher price as they provide higher performance.

“New games are being released with higher graphics and gamers need higher performance hardware. They are always upgrading,” said Farn.

Separately, the Taiwan Excellence E-Sports Cup 2019 will start its qualifying tournaments tomorrow.