NEC to reduce 2009 outsourcing in Taiwan
NEC will cut its 2009 outsourcing in Taiwan by 10-20% relative to its 2008 spending of US$3 billion due to the recession, according to the top executive in its Taiwan branch.
NEC is the No.2 Japanese buyer of Taiwan products by value, next only to Sony.
Makoto Kubota, president of NEC Taiwan, said the steepest cut will be on outsourcing semiconductors, at annual rate of around 50%. NEC buys mostly DRAM chips and DVD-player chips in terms of semiconductors in Taiwan.
Kubota said the branch will manage to maintain its 2009 sales on par with 2008's NT$4 billion (US$121 million at US$1:NT$33), adding that the branch's investments this year will focus on WiMAX, RFID, NEC Hotel Property Management System (NEHOPS), and business software solution businesses. Also, his branch will compete against HP and IBM for a share of the estimated annual spending of NT$16 billion (US$484 million) on information-technology products in the "12 Love Taiwan Projects," with which President Ma Ying-jeou has pledged in eight years to reinvigorate Taiwan's economy.
While cutting outsourcing some items, NEC Taiwan plans to increase procuring others as networking equipment, including Femotcell base station, VDSL and GPON. Also, NEC will shift contracts for mid-range servers to Taiwanese suppliers from U.S. suppliers this year.
