Chinese color television manufacturers are increasingly turning their hands to the personal computer market, and the latest company to break into this space is TCL Group Co. TCL has invested an initial $15m in a new company called TCL-GVC Computer Co, after collaborating with Taiwanese modem supplier, GVC Corp, to produce PCs, main boards, monitors, lap tops and servers. It also plans to break into the telecommunications, networking and semiconductor areas. But for the time being, the new company has a capacity to produce 400,000 PCs a year. as a result of the GVC input, TCL-GVC Computer anticipates it will be placed among China’s top five computer companies within three years, and the top three within five years. The Chinese computer industry is currently growing at over 50% a year, and TCL follows the likes of Hisense and Panda who are both traditionally thought of as television producers, but have moved into the PC space in recent times. TCL expects its first PCs to go on sale at the end of June.
