Yen Sun Has High Hopes for Automotive Cooling Fan Sales

Yen Sun Technology Corp., a Taiwan-listed company specializing in developing and making different types of cooling-fan products, became a tier-1 parts supplier to German luxury-car maker BMW in 2013. Liu Hsian-wen, president of the firm's electronics cooling division, reported that his unit enjoyed a revenue growth of 40% to 50% in 2014 and will continue to see revenues increase in 2015.

According to Liu, an European luxury car may have 12 electric fans in its two front seats along with more in its central console, other seats, and lamps. He went on to say that Yen Sun tapped into the automotive application market with its center-console fans, and expects to win more orders for seating applications. The president added that it always takes a long time for a newcomer to tap into automotive supply chains; but once an order is placed by an automaker, the business will last long and will be stable. Currently, Yen Sun is in talks with new automotive customers over product designs in 2017.

To develop the lucrative automotive market, Yen Sun has set up an automotive-fan lab and specialized production line at its global headquarters in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, and all of which comply with the TS 16949 international quality standard. To match the small-batch, large-variety mode of production, the new automotive-fan production line is already semi-automated and will be made fully automated in the future, Liu said.

Liu said that at the recent Electronica Germany 2014, held on November 11-14 in Munich, he noticed there will be much new demand for fans in electric vehicles (EVs), including those for interiors, infotainment systems, and vehicular computers.

Yen Sun is a major cooling-fan supplier for the information and communications technology (ICT) and home-appliance industries, and is targeting the development of new application markets with higher technical thresholds and profit margins. For future expansion, the firm said, it will focus on the new 3C (China, Car, and Cloud) markets.

In addition to winning OE orders from automakers, Yen Sun has also successfully tapped into the networking base-station market. In the second half of this year, its fan products also penetrated the high-level server application market.

The company currently operates factories in Taiwan, Dongguan (Guangdong Province, China), and Shanghai (China), along with service facilities throughout Asia, America, Australia, and the greater part of Europe.

Caption: Liu Hsian-wen, president of the electronics cooling division of Yen Sun, reported that his division enjoyed a 40% to 50% revenue growth in 2014, and will continue to see revenues increase in 2015. (photo from UDN)