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Taiwanese firms are increasingly focusing on India to capitalise on huge demand.
After electronic manufacturers Foxconn and Wintek, the Taiwan-based manufacturer of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels and modules, GiantPlus Technology, is keen on entering the Indian market and scouting for a partner.
The $300-million GiantPlus is a leading Taiwanese firm engaged in developing, manufacturing and selling LCD panels and modules focusing on small- and mid-sized applications such as mobile phones, consumer products and entertainment equipment.
The company has three plants -- one at Miaoli Hsien in Taiwan and two in China (Kunshan and Shenzhen) with a total capacity of about 12 million pieces a month.
With total staff strength of about 5,000 in these three locations, GiantPlus supplies flat panels to mobile phone companies such as Motorola, LG, Samsung and several Chinese manufacturers.
In 2006, the company shipped 80 million pieces to customers across three segments -- communication electronics, consumer products, toys and education applications.
While the company is already engaged in discussions with Flextronics to set up base inside the 250-acre Flextronics SEZ near Chennai, the company is also keen to supply LCD products to companies engaged in the manufacture of entertainment and education products and consumer products through an Indian partner.
"We see a bright future for electronics manufacturers in India. However, we are not familiar with the Indian market and are keen to partner with a company to supply our display material for toy and education product as well as consumer product manufacturers," Winy Kao, sales manager, communication electronics display division, GiantPlus Technology, told Business Standard.
"We have established strong presence in the low and middle segments of LCD products and emerged stronger than the Korean and Chinese players. We are in discussion with leading mobile manufacturers, who have set up base in India, and expect to see some action over the next one year," she added.
GiantPlus is a listed company on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and expects to garner revenues of $450 million by the 2007-end. At present, the mobile phone segment contributes about 50 per cent to the total revenue of the company.
Consumer products and the toy and education product segments contribute 25 per cent each to its revenue.
GiantPlus' competitor Wintek is setting up a manufacturing facility within the Nokia Telecom Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Sriperumbudur near Chennai, which houses the units of component manufacturers such as Aspocomp, Perlos, Foxconn, Perlos, Jabil and Laird.
Wintek's factory is likely to commence operations next year and the capacity will eventually reach nine million pieces a month.
Meanwhile, Foxconn, a Hon Hai Group subsidiary, is establishing a $110 million manufacturing complex in Sriperumbudur for production of printed circuit boards, connectors, PC cases and mobile phones to supply to Motorola, Nokia and HP.
According to a Gartner report, mobile phone production in India is expected to grow from 31 million units in 2006 to reach 107 million units in 2011 at a compounded annual growth rate of 28.3 per cent on the back of an expanding mobile subscriber base and favourable local policies.
Mobile phone production revenues are expected to reach $13.6 billion by 2011 from $4.9 billion in 2006 at a CAGR of 26.6 per cent.
At present, the mobile phone production in the country is dominated by the top-five global handset vendors Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and LG.
