Chinese PCs to be marketed in Taiwan

In an effort to reduce production costs and make logistics more efficient, multinational computer companies such as IBM Corp and Dell Computer Corp are placing their regional production centers in China, while also planning to increase Chinese product shipments to Taiwan.

In the second quarter, IBM introduced its Chinese-made brand-name computers in Taiwan, Hank Hung (洪漢青), a PC division executive at IBM Taiwan.

In February, the government began to allow the importation of Chinese electronic products.

"All our desktop PCs and nearly 40 percent of our notebooks sold in Taiwan are made in China," Hung said.

In fact, all IBM products in Asia-Pacific region are supplied by IBM's factory in Shenzhen, China, he said.

"The Shenzhen factory acts as a regional manufacturing hub," Hung said. "Our regional logistics process is now more efficient."

Another American computer giant, Dell Computer, is also expressing an interest in selling electronics products produced in China.

The company plans to import desktop PCs to Taiwan early next year. All products shipped to Taiwan will be assembled in Malaysia, but that could change, a Dell Taiwan official, who preferred not to be named, said.

Because of the relatively low technical requirements in manufacturing desktop PCs, multinationals are more comfortable with placing desktop PC orders with China-based manufacturers, but not notebook orders, the Dell official said.

Hewlett-Packard Co, nevertheless, does not plan to import products from China in the near term, Dennis Chen (陳敬宏), group sales manager at HP Taiwan, said.

"We won't switch our production partners to Chinese companies just to secure lower labor costs," Chen said.

"Transportation costs are also a factor that we need to take into consideration."

But the public is less likely to see price drop on Chinese-made products. IBM's retail prices have so far remained unchanged.

"No matter where these products are manufactured, they are all made by IBM and they must meet our strict quality-control standards," Hung said.

Many people assume that products made in China are of inferior quality, but Hung said that China has become the world's biggest manufacturer.

Nevertheless, IBM may be forced to eventually cut prices.

"Taiwanese tend to believe that Chinese-made products are less valuable than Japanese or Taiwanese products," said Jonathan Chen, notebook-product manager at Mitac International Corp (神達電腦).

Tough competition between the major players will force them to eventually lower prices, he said.