The Hanoitimes - Taiwan-based Compal Electronics, the world's second-largest maker of notebook computers, has equipped its new manufacturing facility in Vinh Phuc Province in preparation for a production launch in the second half of this year, according to representatives of the province's industrial zones management board.
Construction began on the US$500 million plant in November 2007. Production had been expected to begin in the first quarter of last year, but the plans were delayed during the global recession, said Compal chairman Rock Hsu.
The new facility was conceived with a capacity of 1.2 million laptops per month or 15 million a year, but this figure had been scaled back to 500-600,000 units per month due to depressed demand, Hsu said.
Compel supplies notebooks to such major brands as Dell, HP, Acer, Toshiba, Fujitsu and Lenovo.
Dell's chairman for the Asian region Amit Midha has said that Dell was in the process of researching the Vietnamese market and intended to build a production facility here due to the country's advantages in terms of labour and other costs.
The Ministry of Information and Communications plans to introduce additional measures later this year to promote the further development of the IT industry, with a focus on attracting foreign investment.
