Taiwanese Investor Mulls PC Plant in Vietnam

The Taiwan-based Quanta Computer, the world's top contract laptop PC maker, is planning to build a factory in Vietnam amid rising labor costs in China, state media has said.

 

“We are doing feasibility studies in Vietnam and in other Asian countries, which show good investment opportunities,” a Quanta spokeswoman revealed, adding that nothing had been finalized to give a specific timetable or investment amount for any of the potential projects.

 

Quanta Computer, which supplies top U.S. brands namely Apple Inc., Dell Inc and Hewlett-Packard Co <HPQ.N, is in competition with local rival Compal Electronics, which is also planning to build facilities in Vietnam.

 

Numerous Taiwan manufacturing companies, which have been producing the likes of computers and handsets in China for major Western brands, have begun to look elsewhere as labor costs in China have steadily increased, analysts said, adding that Vietnam will benefit from the trend.

 

The PC sales in Vietnam grew 43 per cent in the first three quarters of 2007 compared to the same period of 2006, and expected to jump 29 per cent this year thanks to the country’s solid economic foundation and a growing awareness and interest in information technology (IT) among both private and public sectors. (Thanh Nien Daily)