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Taiwan’s Giant Manufacturing (9921 TT — US$1.7 billion) is the world’s largest bicycle manufacturer.
It’s based in the Taiwanese city of Taichung, which has become somewhat of the center of the global bicycle industry. From there, it controls nine factories around the world, selling about 6 million bicycles a year via many thousands of distributors in 50 countries. Most of these bicycles are sold under their own brand names, including “Giant” and “Liv.”
The founder, King Liu, set up Giant Manufacturing in the early 1970s with several business partners. In the first year, he produced and sold 3,800 bicycles. The big breakthrough came in 1976, when America’s Schwinn hired it to become a supplier. Giant benefited enormously, and soon, Schwinn represented 75% of total revenues.
However, King Liu became concerned that Giant was becoming too reliant on Schwinn, so he launched the brand “Giant” domestically in Taiwan. Those fears were warranted because Schwinn soon cut ties to Giant, forcing it to survive independently.
In the following years, King Liu responded by aggressively moving upmarket. He enlisted much-younger NTU graduate Tony Lo to spearhead an international expansion, first to the Netherlands and then to America. He built up an international organization with mostly local hires, so much so that today, many consider Giant to be a “Western” brand, despite its Taiwanese origins.
Throughout this period, Giant collaborated with Taiwanese research institutes and designers to innovate. For example, it developed carbon fiber bicycle frames and compact road design frame geometries.
By the mid-2010s, Giant became the largest bicycle manufacturer in the world. Industry insiders called Giant’s factories the most efficient and sophisticated in the industry, making it a natural supplier to well-regarded brands such as Trek.
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