Kinpo-Compal Group actively tapping cell phone market

Taipei, Dec. 4, 2003 (CENS)--Cal-Comp Electronics (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (CCET), an affiliate of Taiwan's Kinpo-Compal Group, recently announced plans to invest US$10 million to set up a second plant in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, mainland China for the production of computer printers and cell phones.

Industry sources said that the Kinpo-Compal Group has been actively diversifying into cell phone production business. Compal Communication Inc., a subsidiary of Compal Electronics Inc., one of Taiwan's major notebook PC makers and an affiliate of the group, has been devoted to cell phone development and production for several years and was newly listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

In cooperation with its major shareholder Telian Corp., a South Korea-based telecommunications-device developer and manufacturer holding a 30% stake in CCET, CCET recently won orders from North American customers for time division multiple access (TDMA) cell phone models and will deliver about 200,000 such handsets in the fourth quarter.

After CCET's entry into the TDMA handset production, industry sources said, the Kinpo-Compal Group has totally controlled all the code division multiple access (CDMA), global system for mobile communications (GSM) and TDMA technologies for cell phone production.

After the completion of the Suzhou second plant, CCET said, the company would transfer all the production of computer printers to the new facility, and its first plant there will be exclusively for cell phone production. CCET estimated that if everything goes smoothly, its monthly cell phone production volume would reach about 500,000 units next year.

Compal Communication said that its November revenue hit NT$2.16 billion (US$635.29 million at US$1: NT$34), a record monthly high for the fourth consecutive month. The company claimed that all its cell phone production capacity has been fully booked and it is actively expanding the production lines. Compal Communication shipped over 570,000 cell phones in November, including major shipment models such as Motorola's E365 and Panasonic G60.