Taiwan’s Kinpo Electronics Group has announced plans to invest around $97m to set up production facilities in Thailand for telecommunications parts and computer accessories. The investment will make Thailand the second largest production base for the Taiwanese group after mainland China. The Taiwan authorities have been warning local companies against making themselves too dependent on production bases in China.
Products coming off the new production lines will be CD-ROM drives, modems, walkie-talkies, integrated receiver-decoders and talking dictionaries. They will be exported around the region.
The new facilities will boost revenues from Kinpo’s Thai subsidiary Cal-Comp Electronics (Thailand) by 50% to $405m in the next financial year, according to company director Cheng Cheung. The firm’s existing plants in Thailand make printers, fax machines, calculators and computer monitors. Cheung said that Kinpo also plans to start making mobile phones and cordless phones in Thailand and the products are now being designed in Korea.
