Compaq Computer Corp, already the largest foreign buyer of Taiwan’s information products, will boost purchases from the island to $7bn in 1999 from last year’s $5.5bn, a company executive said yesterday while announcing the establishment of an Asia Pacific research center in Taipei. Compaq buys from local companies such as Chuntex Electronics Co, Inventec Corp and Mitac Inc.
After the US and Japan, Taiwan is the world’s third largest producer of computer equipment, and saw its output last year rise 12% to $34bn. The new research center, said to be a $30m investment for the company, is being established to encourage local electronics companies to establish leading-edge manufacturing methods, he said.
Meanwhile, Compaq is to invest more than $30m in China over the next two years to develop the country’s IT infrastructure and software skills, the company’s chief executive Eckhard Pfeiffer said in Beijing. Half the investment will be spent on e-commerce projects while the rest will go to joint-venture activities in IT manufacturing, such as partnering with Chinese firms to sell co- branded computer products.
