Not much attention is given to what could happen should these local firms or subsidiaries grow beyond their domestic markets and undertake international expansion themselves. A crucial question that needs to be addressed is what happens when local subsidiaries and local suppliers do not simply remain restricted to their domestic markets but also expand abroad to become MNEs in their own right. This paper addresses this particular gap among the streams of literature previously discussed. The extant literature on subsidiary evolution and the GVC similarly ignore how the internationalization of local subsidiaries and firms could change their positions and dynamism within the MNE networks and the chain structure. Bridging the gap between these lines of research, I argue that the international expansion at the subsidiary level could be an alternative route for local subsidiaries to expand its mandates by using international expansion to improve its position within the GVC of their industry. This move not only enhances the internationalizing subsidiary's position within the MNE networks, but also allows it to move up to more value-added locations within the GVC. The paper is based on an in-depth case study of DET, a Thai subsidiary of a Taiwanese electronic MNE. I explore the transformation of the subsidiary from simply manufacturing for exports to becoming a strategic international expansion arm for the parent MNE. Theoretical propositions are then derived to link the empirical evidence from the case to the existing literature. The next part explains the case selection and research methodology.