Aaron Lee, Taipei; Adam Hwang

 

Compal Electronics will prepare to begin volume production at its factory in Vietnam if labor shortages and hikes in wage rates in China pose serious problems, according to company president Ray Chen.

Compal began establishing its factory in Vietnam in 2009, with small-volume trial production beginning in the second quarter of 2011, Chen indicated. Wage rates in Vietnam are only half those in China, Chen noted.

Compal's factory in Chongqing City, western China, has started production of notebooks, with monthly shipments expected to increase from over 400,000 units currently to 700,000-800,000 units in the second quarter and one million units in the second half of 2012, Chen indicated.

Lienpal (Hefei), Compal's joint venture with China-based Lenovo, will begin small-volume production at the end of 2012 and volume production in 2013, with China to be the major market, Chen noted.

Compal's factory in Brazil shipped more than 100,000 notebooks a month in 2011, with production capacity to be expanded in 2012 depending on market demand, Chen indicated.

Compal expanded its R&D man power from 4,000 engineers to 5,100 in 2011 and will increase the total number of engineers to 6,000 in 2012, Chen pointed out.

Since Compal will focus R&D resources for tablet PCs on more profitable models, the company expects its shipments of tablet PCs to decrease from 1.6 million units in 2011 to 1.5 million units in 2012, Chen explained.