Last year represented a watershed moment for this Taiwanese company in the automotive market, as two of its startup investments reached significant milestones. Under the guidance of its chief business officer, Taiwan Mobile has established a comprehensive suite of automotive services, seeking to carve out new business opportunities in the competitive telecommunications landscape.
Reflecting on the journey, Lin believes Taiwan Mobile's automotive blueprint has gained traction largely due to its established connected platform — a significant advantage that enables the company to quickly integrate various convenient services for users. The strategy includes helping Uspace (悠勢科技) acquire Nokisaki, Japan's third-largest smart parking brand; expanding from parking services into various applications; connecting with Taiwan Mobile Power's (台灣大動力) MyCharge to provide charging services; and investing in the scooter-sharing company WeMo (威摩科技) to collaborate with iRent, capturing the largest market share in the scooter-sharing platform sector.
From Phones to Parking: Defining New Markets
Since taking office, Lin has constantly pondered how to satisfy the greatest common denominator of needs between car owners and mobile device users. He began by defining automotive services, targeting markets including parking, chauffeur services and rentals. "Users already have these needs and are willing to pay. By serving customers, we can expand revenue," Lin said. Furthermore, providing diverse services increases user stickiness, "reducing churn rates and keeping users with Taiwan Mobile."
He candidly acknowledged, "Our investments in technology businesses aim to extend users' digital lives and drive profits upward." Indeed, after Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠), who runs Fubon Group (富邦集團) with his brother Richard Tsai (蔡明興), gave his approval in 2022, Taiwan Mobile announced a NT$200 million (around US$6.3 million) investment in Uspace in late October that year, bullish on the company's parking location network.
Leveraging Data for Optimal Parking Locations
Song noted, "Uspace will pilot a 'secure parking' feature with Fubon Insurance in the first quarter next year." This introduces a flexible "pay-as-you-park" insurance model to solve the pain point of parking facilities' unwillingness to assume custody responsibilities. In 2025, Lin was promoted to executive director of Uspace. Through his efforts driving Uspace's Japanese acquisition and Southeast Asian expansion, these consecutive strategic moves have resulted in Uspace's revenue growing sevenfold in just about three years compared to 2022, when the acquisition took place.
Another significant investment came in 2024 with a stake in WeMo. WeMo cofounder Jeffrey Wu (吳昕霈) recalled that the company's previous bottleneck stemmed from electric scooter battery replacement limitations, which required employees to rush about, constraining growth. Lin remembered that before investing, he "wasn't even sure if WeMo could survive."
So when Lin approached WeMo with the idea of jointly establishing WeMo Scooter (威祥車聯網), both parties immediately clicked. With more than 1,000 new WeMo Fly scooters hitting the streets, Lin shared, "By the third month after deploying the new vehicles, we knew we were successful, and by the sixth month, our EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) turned positive."
In August 2024, Taiwan Mobile invested NT$300 million (around US$9.5 million) in WeMo's capital increase, acquiring a 13.9% stake to continue the fleet replacement. Simultaneously, WeMo approached iRent, which faced similar vehicle replacement challenges. The two companies agreed to collaborate, with WeMo's vehicles serving iRent members, creating Taiwan's largest scooter-sharing platform. Wu also noted that through Taiwan Mobile's monthly mobile subscription plans, WeMo service promotion has strengthened, accelerating membership growth from about 1 million members in 2022 to 1.5 million today.
Beyond the successful WeMo investment, Taiwan Mobile established Taiwan Mobile Power in 2023, focusing on charging services to further acquire high-value users. For instance, big data analysis revealed that "Costco (好市多) is the place electric vehicle owners are most interested in shopping." By installing Taiwan Mobile Power charging stations at Costco locations and partnering with Fubon Co-branded Card (富邦聯名卡), Taiwan Mobile can expand services while attracting more premium customers.
However, Taiwan Mobile Power's charging service remains in the infrastructure stage and isn't easily profitable in the short term. Taiwan Mobile believes this parallels base station construction — as penetration increases and market maturity drives user growth, the benefits will eventually materialize.
For Lin, Taiwan Mobile's automotive sector strategy leverages the group's vast resources through acquisitions and investments to create a comprehensive "one for all" service ecosystem. "With a more thorough ecosystem, we revitalize our telecom customer base," he said, achieving the ultimate goal of increasing profits. The foundation is now firmly established, awaiting the moment to leap forward. ◼ (At time of reporting, US$1 equals approximately NT$31.58)
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This article is excerpted from the No. 1513 issue of Business Today (今周刊). Click here for the Chinese-language version of this story: USPACE營收3年翻7倍、WeMo 6個月驗證獲利模式...台灣大車用生態圈成形，一站式服務到位
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