Canon Inc, the world’s biggest camera maker, began construction on Sunday of a new plant in Greater Taichung to meet higher demand for the company’s products.
Market analysts believe that the combined investment in the new plant, along with another for which construction is slated to begin in August, will exceed NT$30 billion (US$1.05 billion), according to local media reports.
Canon will invest NT$11 billion in its new factory in the Taichung Export Processing Zone, with construction slated to be completed by the end of May next year.
The Taichung plant will begin production in the second half of next year, employing 3,000 workers.
Rising demand for digital single-lens-reflex cameras in recent years prompted the company to decide last year to expand its production in Taiwan, the reports said.
Since the establishment of its first Taiwanese branch in the zone 40 years ago, Canon has brought both capital and technology to the country, making central Taiwan a hub for the optics industry, Canon Taiwan chairman Kenji Yoshida said at a ground-breaking ceremony for the new plant.
The second new plant that will begin being built in August will be located in the Chiayi Dapumei Intelligent Industrial Park.
Construction of that plant will be completed in July next year and once operational, it will require 3,000 to 4,000 employees, the reports said.
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