Adobe announced today that it has closed its Taiwan sales office. A statement from Ng Yew Hwee, Adobe’s managing director of Greater China (oddly enough, it was posted in a JPEG, not a PDF) on Adobe’s Taiwan site states: “Upon careful and deliberate consideration of our business strategy in Asia-Pacific, Adobe has made the decision to reorganize our business in the Greater China region. As part of the reorganization, we are closing our Taiwan sales office with effect from 7 December 2012.”
Despite the closure, Adobe will continue to do business in Taiwan through local channel partners, supported by its Hong Kong sales office.
Adobe has gradually consolidated its Asia business; in October, the company named Craig Tegel vice president of Adobe Worldwide Field Operations and regional president of Adobe Japan and Asia Pacific operations as part of its bid to combine field teams throughout the region. Taiwanese tech observers, however, expressed dismay at today’s announcement (link via Google Translate), with some speculating that the move might be an indicator of Adobe’s lack of optimism in the future of Taiwan’s tech market (link via Google Translate), which has been buffeted by competition from China, South Korea and southeast Asia.
In August, the China Times reported that Taiwan’s high-tech sector is gradually losing its competitive edge. Exports for the first seven months of this year fell 5.8% year-over-year, due to a decrease in global demand. By contrast, South Korea’s thriving export-oriented economy, which overlaps with many of the same tech industries as Taiwan, saw modest growth during the same period. Meanwhile, Taiwanese electronic makers like HTC, Acer and Asustek face strong competition from Chinese manufacturers Huawei Technologies, ZTE and Lenovo.
We asked Adobe for comment and the company said they are not currently making any comment beyond what’s in the statement.