BANGALORE, INDIA -- Elcoteq Network Corp. became the second major EMS firm this week to announce plans for assembly operations in India, saying that it would invest $50 million to $100 million for a high-volume telecom site here.

The 5,400m² facility will build on high-volume low-mix products including cellphones, PDAs and some network equipment. The site is scalable to 13,500m², and is expected to employ about 1,000 staff when it reaches full ramp by the end of next year.

Hannu Keinänen, president of Elcoteq Asia-Pacific, called Asia-Pacific, along with Russia and South America, "one of the fastest growing areas."

"We believe these regions will be the biggest sources of new business in the near future."

The announcement came just two days after a major competitor detailed its own plans for the region. On Tuesday, the president of Flextronics Asian business, Jack Tan, said the company would ramp its investment in India by as much as $500 million over the next 10 to 15 years.

Henry Gilchrist, director of business development and marketing at Elcoteq Asia-Pacific, said, "The Indian market is growing more quickly than almost anywhere else in the world. Most of our customers and some potential ones have markets here in India. And obviously, we want to be there to service their needs.

The company chose Bangalore because of its proximity to R&D sites, existing technology and component suppliers, and planned infrastructure improvements, including an international airport by February 2008. The Indian government, under its Electronic Hardware Technology Park Scheme, granted Elcoteq several incentives including tax holidays and duty-free import of capital goods and raw materials.

Elcoteq has three other volume production sites in Asia -- all in China. Asia-Pacific makes up about one-fourth of Elcotq's sales worldwide, or $888 million.

Earlier this month, Enics Electronics Beijing Ltd. agreed to buy certain assets and industrial electronics programs from Elcoteq's Beijing GKI Electronics Co.  Ltd. Elcoteq's other operations within its Beijing unit are not affected by the deal. Elcoteq had sold its European industrial electronics business to Enics in 2004.

• Prev
• Next