AST Research Inc, Irvine, California has been showing great interest in the Chinese market for some time now, and it has furthered its ambitions there with a contract to manufacture the machines in China. It will invest $16m to build a manufacturing, service, and sales headquarters in the special economic zone of Tianjin, a port city near Peking. The company’s partner is a subsidiary of the Tianjin Electronics and Instruments Industrial Administration. AST says sales in China already account for 10% of its worldwide sales. AST will hold a 90% stake in the facility, which will manufacture, distribute and repair personal computers; it is expected to open next September and to employ about 400. AST also has an agreement with Hong Kong computer reseller Legend Technology Ltd, which calls for Legend to sell 40,000 AST computers, worth $80m, over the next 11 months in China.
