Print

Mail

wiki links

Compal to invest in new Vietnam plant

Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電子), the world's second-largest maker of notebook computers, will invest US$500 million in building a factory to produce computers and electronic components in Vietnam, a Vietnamese government official said.

"The project, which was licensed yesterday, has its duration of 49 years and will create up to 40,000 jobs," Nguyen Ngoc Phi, chairman of the northern province of Vinh Phuc, said in a telephone interview. "The company said it may increase the investment after the first phase which is from 2007 to 2012."

Compal, based in Taipei, said in August that second-quarter profit rose to NT$3.25 billion (US$99.7 million), from NT$1.69 billion a year earlier. The company's full-year shipment forecast was raised to 22 million notebooks, a 50 percent increase on last year, from an April prediction of 20 million, Compal president Ray Chen (陳瑞聰) said on Aug. 13.

Construction of the Vietnamese factory will start at the end of the year and the facility is expected to begin operations in 2009, with initial capacity of 800,000 laptops a year, according to Phi.

"The capacity will be increased to as much as 24 million notebooks a year by 2012, and most of the products will be exported," he said.

The company chose Vietnam for its new factory because costs are 3 percent to 5 percent lower than in China, Chen of Compal said in August.
This story has been viewed 1425 times.