Operational Performance and
Corporate Governance Structure

Since Advantech’s establishment in 1983, we have played the role of innovator in the development and manufacture of high-quality and high-performance computing platforms.

We provide comprehensive software and hardware system integration, customer-oriented design services, global logistics support, and other applications and services. Advantech was listed in Taiwan in 1999 and our operating headquarters is located in the Neihu Technology Park in Taipei, Taiwan. Our business base spans 28 countries in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and other regions.* Our three major manufacturing centers are located in Linkou (Taiwan), Kunshan (China), and Fukuoka (Japan). Furthermore, we have built four logistics management centers and 14 local service centers to provide global customers with real-time and comprehensive integrated services via a complete service system.

Advantech stands as a global leader in the IoT intelligent system and embedded platform industries, and holds "Enabling an Intelligent Planet" as its corporate brand vision. In accordance with our customers’ needs, our Company is divided into four major business groups: the Industrial IoT Group, the Embedded IoT Group, the Service IoT Group, and the Cloud IoT Group. To meet the broad trends of the Internet of Things, Big Data, and artificial intelligence, Advantech advances IoT software and hardware solutions centered on the WISE-PaaS industrial IoT cloud platform to help partners and customers connect the industry value chain. In addition, we actively "co-create" an industrial ecosystem with various industrial partners in order to accelerate the realization of the goal of industrial intelligence. Please refer to this video to learn more about Advantech's vision of “Enabling an Intelligent Planet”. The industries that Advantech and its affiliated companies work on are mainly in the manufacture, assembly, sales and after-sales service of industrial computer related products. Some affiliated companies invest in related technologies and business activities connected to the aforementioned products to form their business scopes.

Advantech attaches great importance to corporate governance and a spirit of altruism, and we continuously strengthen the composition and functions of our Board of Directors. In addition to protecting the legitimate rights and interests of shareholders, we also take the interests of other stakeholders into account. Advantech's Board of Directors not only formulates regulations and measures in accordance with relevant laws and regulations and the powers entrusted by the shareholders' meeting, but also supervises the implementation results of each business plan and objective. In addition, Advantech holds an expanded Board of Directors meeting every six months to discuss important issues such as industrial and organizational reform, business model innovation, business heritage, and medium and long-term vision.

Regarding functional committees, the Company has set up an Audit Committee, a Remuneration Committee, and so on to implement each supervisory and internal audit functions as well as compensation incentives and training of high-level talent. Established in 2020, the ESG Corporate Sustainability Committee and ESG office are headed by the Chairman to promote Advantech’s environmental sustainability, social responsibility, and feedback across a wider range, as well as our substantial progress in all aspects of corporate governance.

Advantech upholds our commitment to sustainability and we plan to formally establish a Board-level Sustainability Committee in 2022. In the future, it will promote major issues such as ESG long-term strategy, succession plans, and nomination of the Board of Directors and senior managers to make corporate governance moresound and complete.

The Board of Directors of the Company consists of seven directors, including four directors and three independent directors. The term of office is three years, adopting a candidate nomination system as stipulated in Article 192-1 of the Company Act, with election by the shareholders' meeting from the slate of director candidates. Re-election was carried out by the 2020 shareholders' meeting. The team on the Company's Board of Directors combines elites from industry and academia, with diversity and professionalism fully considered. One of the independent directors of the Board of Directors is a well-known professor in the academic world and a professional in accounting and finance. The remaining six have extensive experience in Advantech's core industries. Three of them were presidents or senior managers of world-renowned foreign companies, having extensive practical experience in international business management. The composition of the functional committees also invites experts from various fields to serve as consultants or regular members to enhance professionalism and diversity. The Board of Directors functioned well in 2021, and a total of five Board meetings and two expanded board meetings were held. All Board members had 100% attendance.

Advantech continues to enhance the functions of the Board of Directors. In addition to fully participating in the formal meetings mentioned above, members of the Board of Directors are also frequently invited to participate in discussions on forward-looking issues, interviews with senior managers, and industry forums organized by the Company. The Company also encourages directors to continue in their educations, providing monthly information on governance courses for directors to refer to as electives, organized by professional organizations such as the Taiwan Corporate Governance Association, the Securities & Futures Institute, Taiwan Institute of Directors, and so on. At the same time, the Company has evaluation mechanisms for the Board of Directors and for functional committees and conducts self-evaluations every year. In 2021, overall satisfaction of Board members with Board operations reached 95%. A third-party professional organization conducts an overall board performance evaluation every three years; and in 2020, the Taiwan Corporate Governance Association was entrusted to conduct this evaluation. In addition, Advantech ranked in the top 6%-20% of corporate governance evaluations in 2021, and we regularly review indicators to be improved. The management team strives to improve every year by coordinating resources and promoting this together across departments.

Advantech adheres to a spirit of altruism and expects and commits to giving back to society while the Company's operations are prosperous. Therefore, in terms of tax policy, it is our responsibility to pay reasonable taxes and give back to the local social and economic environment of the countries where we operate. We do not engage in aggressive tax arrangements, and we comply with all relevant tax laws and regulations.