Konica built a hard drive factory in Malaysia

Konica Minolta Japan has chosen Malaysia for its first overseas plant construction project to produce a basic component for hard drive data storage.

Konica Minolta now has to turn to digital devices from a well-known camera and traditional film company.

The electronics maker said the plant will be located in Malacca state, which is their third-owned disc production facility in addition to the two factories operating in Japan, which is expected to start entering. operating in January 2008.

Previously, the company was known for its cameras, but their spokesman Katsuyuki Sakai said "the decision came with the trend of hard disk manufacturers shifting production facilities to Southeast Asian countries like Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore ".

Sakai told AFP: "The hard drive market has an annual growth of 20% with concentrated logistics in Southeast Asia, which is the best opportunity to start a new factory in this area ."

Konica Minolta will invest about 5 billion yen (42 million USD) in this plant project. Initially, the new factory will produce 1 million discs per month for laptops, portable music players and video cameras. Future vision, monthly capacity will reach 3 million products.

In January 2006, Konica Minolta announced that it would completely withdraw from the traditional film camera business cooperation with Sony.

At the same time, the company also cut 3,700 jobs, equivalent to 11% of its workforce. The February 2007 report said their net profit nearly tripled in the fourth quarter of 2006, with a plan to focus on advanced electronic products.

Vu Anh Tu