Hitachi expanding Thai investment

Hitachi Asia is boosting its investment here to position Thailand as its manufacturing base for Asia and the Middle East and a centre for research and development of energysaving products.

"Hitachi considers Thailand has more potential for investment, as Hitachi in Thailand has the most plants with 21," Kazuo Karasawa, managing director of Hitachi Asia (Thailand), said yesterday.

"This year Hitachi will expand investment in Thailand by giving importance to production because of its lower labour wages than Singapore. Hitachi will turn to increasฌing production in Thailand from Singapore to save costs, while also conฌsidering [investment] in Vietnam and India," he said.

Hitachi Asia (Thailand) makes electrical power equipment, industrial process machinery, advanced software technology, semiconductors, display devices and other products.

Elsewhere in Asia, plants are locatฌed in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Hitachi has plans to increase its investment budget in Asia, including Thailand, which is regarded as one potential country for increased investment despite the political trouฌbles.

Expansion is planned this year for harddisk assembly lines at Hitachi Asia (Thailand) - Thailand is Hitachi's export base for these products - Hitachi Industrial Technology (Thailand), which makes motors, and Siam Hitachi Elevator.

The last two firms are set to be cenฌtres for exports to many countries.

Hitachi Industrial Technology (Thailand) will export motors to India soon, and Siam Hitachi Elevator will extend its export market to the Middle East, which is undergoing a construction boom.

Hitachi in Thailand will focus more on consumer products, especially refrigerators and washing machines, so it can export them to emerging markets such as the Middle East, because demand is rising for sidebyside refrigฌerators, Karasawa added.