Japan's Olympus to make digital cameras in Vietnam
TOKYO — Japan's Olympus Corp. will build a new factory in Vietnam next year to produce hot-selling digital cameras, a company spokesman said Thursday.
"We will build a manufacturing base in Vietnam ... as we aim to secure enough (production) capacity for digital cameras," the official said, adding the company aims to begin construction by late 2008.
Investment will be some five billion yen (44 million dollars), said the official who declined to be named.
The spokesman denied a report in the Nikkei daily Thursday that Olympus would consolidate its two Chinese factories into one to transfer some operations to the base in Vietnam, where labour costs are lower.
Olympus will build the Vietnamese base in addition to the two Chinese factories, he said.
"We picked Vietnam not because of cheap labour but to secure production capacity," he said, adding Olympus had yet to announce details including the exact location of the Vietnam factory and planned production volume.
Olympus said Tuesday its net profits rose by almost 70 percent in the six months to September as it enjoyed brisk sales of digital cameras and medical equipment.
Agence France Presse - November 8, 2007.
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