Quanta mulls proposal for Vietnam plant

Taiwan's Quanta Computer, the world's top contract laptop PC maker, said yesterday it was studying a plan to build a plant in Vietnam or in other emerging markets amid rising labor costs in China.

"We are doing feasibility studies in Vietnam and in other countries which we think may be good investment opportunities," said a Quanta spokeswoman.

However, she added that nothing had been finalized and declined to give a specific timetable or investment amount for any of the potential projects.

Quanta, which supplies top U.S. brands such as Apple Inc., Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co., competes with local rival Compal Electronics, which had said it is building facilities in Vietnam and plans to invest US$500 million in the country's northern region.

Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology, a firm under the Hon Hai Group, has also signed an agreement to invest US$1.1 billion in a plant in Vietnam to make cellphones, as Asian firms seek lower-cost production centers to defend profit margins.

Numerous Taiwan manufacturing companies, which have been producing the likes of computers and handsets in China for major Western brands, have begun to look elsewhere, as labor costs in China have steadily increased, and are expected to rise a further 20-25 percent this year, said analysts.