In addition to the business opportunities of Taipower's strong power grid, the four major heavy power companies also benefit from the North American market, which has a demand for red discharge. (File photo)
[Reporter Lin Jinghua/Taipei Report] The United States has actively strengthened the security of the power grid supply chain in recent years. It not only requires the expansion of local manufacturing, but also raises the power equipment supply chain to the national security level to reduce reliance on high-risk supply sources such as China. As the "red discharge" of the power grid accelerates, Taiwan's heavy electrical industry players are also actively entrenching themselves in the North American market. Huacheng, Shidian, ZTE, and Alexei each started from transformers, GIS, power distribution equipment, and power engineering to seize the business opportunities of supply chain restructuring.
The United States currently faces an insufficient supply of power grid equipment, especially large-scale transformers with long manufacturing cycles and high technical barriers. The delivery period of some equipment can even take several years. On the other hand, the US power grid is old, coupled with the continuous upgrading of the transmission system, and the rapid increase in large power-consuming facilities such as data centers, it has also increased the demand for transformers, substations, and power transmission and distribution equipment.
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In April this year, the U.S. government listed transformers, transmission lines, high-voltage circuit breakers, power electronic equipment and protection systems as important industrial resources related to national defense. In August, it further strengthened restrictions on foreign-made large-scale power system equipment, paying special attention to software, digital components and control systems involving information security and operational risks, and continues to reduce reliance on high-risk foreign supply chains.
The "red supply chain" has also gradually extended from technology industries such as semiconductors and AI servers to power infrastructure. In the past, Chinese-made equipment had a price advantage, but after the United States has included information security, supply chain security and equipment sources into procurement considerations, price is no longer the only condition.
Among them, Huacheng has been in North America for a long time in recent years, focusing on large-scale power transformers as its main products, and is attacking the market through its local presence in the United States and long-term customer relationships; Shidian has also expanded its high-voltage transformer production capacity and continues to expand in North America; ZTE focuses on GIS and substation equipment, and follows the overseas expansion of semiconductor customers; Alexei continues its past foundation in the U.S. automated switch market and plans to expand its North American presence through local cooperation and other methods.
The competitive conditions for business opportunities in North America are changing. Industry players point out that meeting the requirements of the "Africa-China supply chain" is an important advantage for Taiwan's heavy power plants to win orders. In particular, large transformers are core equipment of the power grid. It is difficult for the United States to fully rely on local production capacity to meet demand in the short term. Under the red trend, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Europe will need to fill the gap. If Taiwan's four heavy power companies can continue to obtain certification, expand production capacity, and strengthen their North American service layout, they will have the opportunity to further occupy the U.S. and non-China power equipment supply chains.
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