The 1996-2007 period is seen as the hottest decade for the development of Taiwan's heavy-duty electric machinery industry, given the implementation of the high-speed railway system, the establishment of the Southern Taiwan Science Park, the opening of private power generating plants, and Taiwan Power Co.'s No. 6 power transmission and transformation plan as well as the No. 4 and No.5 power distribution plans, which will fuel domestic demand for heavy-duty electric machinery equipment. Amid the booming market demands at home and abroad, Taiwan's production value of heavy-duty electric machines in 2005 was higher than in 2004.

But after 2007, all the heavy-duty electric machines will face flat sales performance because of the saturation of the local market, with the exception of motors, which are likely to see continued growth in production and sales.

Due to poor domestic investment and R & D environment for heavy-duty electric machines, such machines made in Taiwan fail to compete well in the international market. Accordingly, makers should reinforce their development of high-end equipment if they want to compete with their counterparts in the U.S., Japan and Europe. But the liberalization of the local power generation industry is expected to help boost the R & D ability of local makers of electric machinery. In addition, makers can also move to invest in the mainland China to pave the way for tapping the huge mainland Chinese market.