AT&S Shifted to Local-for-Local Strategy in China
The manufacturer is realigning its Chinese production hubs to better capture demand from the country's high-tech sector.
Updated on Sept. 22, 2026 in Manufacturing
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AT&S executive Zhu Jinping announced a local-for-local manufacturing strategy at the Austria Connect China 2026 conference to serve the nation's growing high-tech industries. The move aims to align the company's production sites in Shanghai and Chongqing with specific local customer requirements.
Why it matters
The shift positions the company to benefit from China's 15th Five-Year Plan, which prioritizes growth in artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and robotics. By pivoting to local-for-local production, management seeks to secure higher-margin growth while avoiding the pressures of commodity-market competition.
AT&S has maintained its Chinese operations for 25 years and currently manages a global workforce of 15,000 employees. The company is now adjusting its manufacturing approach in Shanghai and Chongqing to meet requirements set by the 15th Five-Year Plan.
The players
AT&S
An Austria-based high-end printed circuit board and substrate manufacturer with 15,000 global employees.
Zhu Jinping
Executive Vice President of AT&S who oversees the firm's strategic operations in China.
The details
The strategy utilizes AT&S's existing production footprint in Shanghai and Chongqing to combine global technical expertise with local manufacturing speed. This approach allows the firm to bypass generic supply chain lags and deliver custom components for specialized artificial intelligence and semiconductor applications. By tailoring output to domestic requirements, the company intends to differentiate itself from competitors focused on lower-margin, high-volume commodity manufacturing.
Timeline
September 22, 2026: Zhu Jinping presented the new strategy at the Austria Connect China conference.
2026: Austria and China celebrate the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations.
Market Landscape
This pivot aligns with China's 15th Five-Year Plan, which explicitly targets the advancement of the semiconductor and robotics sectors. The strategy follows an industry trend where multinational manufacturers move from centralized exporting models to localized hubs to mitigate geopolitical risk and improve responsiveness.
Operators in high-tech manufacturing should evaluate whether their current supply chains offer enough proximity to local demand to compete with increasingly localized incumbents. Management should track if similar shifts in the semiconductor and robotics sectors lead to increased regional competition for specialized components.
The takeaway
The move demonstrates that multinational success in China now depends on hyper-localizing production to match the nation's specific Five-Year Plan benchmarks. Operators should monitor the 15th Five-Year Plan's specific spending rollouts to identify which high-tech sub-sectors are receiving the most state support.
Further reading
For more on industry shifts, visit the Manufacturing section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by DIGITIMES.
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