Contract laptop maker Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) has accelerated shifting production out of China with the construction of a factory in Taiwan and the establishment of a subsidiary in Thailand, the company said on Friday.
Quanta, which assembles MacBook computers and Apple Watches, has expanded its investment in Taiwan, with its board of directors approving a plan to tender a construction project for a third plant in its home market, to meet capacity expansion needs.
The construction of the plant — including civil engineering, building construction, floor layout and design — has an estimated price tag of NT$950 million (US$30.67 million), Quanta said in a regulatory filing.
The company said it had sought bids for the project, but had not finalized a construction plan, the filing said.
Since the fourth quarter of last year, Quanta has been shifting production from China to a plant in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口). In November last year, the company bought a complex from CMC Magnetics Corp (中環) for NT$4.28 billion to produce high-end servers destined for the US, among other items.
Quanta said in the filing that it had invested 1 billion baht (US$32.87 million) to set up QMB Co Ltd in Thailand.
The company did not elaborate on the investment, saying only that the 100-percent-held unit would help meet its business needs.
Local media reported earlier that Quanta was planning to buy a factory from electronics assembler World Electric (Thailand) Ltd and would gradually expand capacity in the nation as part of its investments in Southeast Asia.
Quanta chairman Barry Lam (林百里) told an investors’ teleconference in August that the company’s production relocation to Southeast Asia is a must amid the persisting US-China trade dispute, as US-bound laptops accounted for about one-third of its total shipments.
Other Taiwanese contract electronics manufacturers — such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), Pegatron Corp (和碩), Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Wistron Corp (緯創) — that have plants in China have also geared up to add more manufacturing sites in Taiwan, India, Southeast Asia and the US to avoid US tariffs on China-made products.
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