It sounds like one of those typical pieces of Far Eastern wishful thinking – Japanese companies are notorious for saying that something they would like to happen will happen, but IBM Corp is claimed to be planning to turn the Shenzhen new economic zone just across the border from Hong Kong into its largest production base worldwide. Source for this claim is a weekend report in the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily. During a recent meeting with Shenzhen Mayor Li Zibin, IBM second in command Ned Lautenbach said the company is ready to pump $80m into a new project to make hard disks and magnetic tape heads there – but $80m would hardly buy its biggest manufacturing base worldwide. The newspaper said IBM will launch the project with its current joint venture partner, the China Great Wall Corp. The $80m cash infusion at the company’s Great Wall joint venture will enable IBM to boost output of hard drives and magnetic tape heads to about $300m in value a year, Lautenbach reportedly said. But he reportedly questioned Shenzhen’s ability to meet the demands for water, electricity and telecommunications for such a big project.
