Tatung Deploys Global Home-Appliance Manufacturing Base in Vietnam

Taipei, Dec. 15, 2005 (CENS)--Tatung Co., a leading electrical-machinery, information technology (IT), and home-appliance product maker in Taiwan, recently announced that it would upgrade its plant in Vietnam as the group's global home-appliance production base.

W. S. Lin, president of Tatung, said that Tatung's new plant in Binh Duong Province of Vietnam is scheduled to begin mass production in mid-2006. The new facility would produce first home-appliance products in the initial stage, and then heavy electrical machinery products.

According to Lin, Tatung's plant in Vietnam aims to record annual revenue of NT$500 million to NT$600 million (US$14.93 million to US$17.91 million at US$1: NT$33.5) in 2006 and the annual value is expected to reach NT$10 billion (US$298.51 million) in next five years. The facility would also be a major beachhead for Tatung to tap the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) market.

Tatung's board recently okayed the US$22 million Vietnamese investment project. According to the company's plans, the Vietnamese plant will first produce electric fans, rice cookers, refrigerators etc. in the initial stage, with needed parts and components to be sourced globally.

According to Lin, Tatung is also planning to introduce some heavy-duty electrical machinery products to the Vietnam facility for local production, including motors, converters, cables and wires etc. Lin estimated that the annual revenue of the Vietnamese subsidiary would hit US$1 billion in 2012.

Tatung is the first Taiwan home-appliance maker to set up a plant in Vietnam. According to Lin, the ASEAN regional market has a total population of about 500 million, including 80 million in Vietnam.

Lin also claimed that Tatung is aggressively evaluating the feasibility of cooperating with partners in India. The cooperation projects are expected to kick off as soon as possible by the end of the year.