Taipei, Dec. 10, 2007 (CENS)--Compal Electronics Inc., the world`s second-largest contract manufacturer of notebook computers, will bring peers to invest to set up 50 satellite plants in Vietnam, said Compal president S.H. Hsu. The company will set up a plant in Vietnam, which will begin mass production in the first quarter of 2009.

Hsu said the new plant in Vietnam will have an annual production capacity of 25 million units of notebook computers on the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) basis with in the next five years, equivalent to its present overall annual production capacity.

He said his company has to seek new production site as its production facility in mainland China has been running at capacity. In addition to Vietnam, the company is also considering setting up a production facility in Brazil as the government there has imposed high tariffs on imported products in an attempt to protect domestic enterprises.

Compal is also talking to customers in India to decide whether to launch a production facility there.

Hsu said the Vietnam government has promised to provide a land area of 327 hectares, 100 hectares of which will be used by Compal with the remainder for the 50 satellite plants. Compal said with the acquisition of the ample land space, it would be able to set up NB supply chain in Vietnam as soon as possible.

Compal anticipated it would be able to ship 23 million units of NBs this year and a 20% up to 30% annual growth is expected in 2008. The company will ship 600,000 units of LCD (liquid crystal display) TVs this year and target to ship one million units in 2008.

Over the past several years, domestic high-tech firms have been rushing to invest in Vietnam and Brazil. Many believed the next-wave growth will come from such emerging markets as Brazil, India, mainland China and Russia.

At present, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. has been deploying in Brazil, while the U.S.-based Dell Computer Inc. has expressed desire to set up a second plant there. Taiwan`s Hon Hai and Chi Mei Group have set up plants in Vietnam.

(by Ben Shen)