WSJ. Motorola Pushes Ahead In China; Eyes $10B Sales 2002-2003
September 2, 1999
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By Erik Guyot
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BEIJING -- While some multinational companies in China are scaling back
their operations, U.S. electronics giant Motorola Inc. (MOT) is pushing
ahead.
"We'd like to be a US$10 billion company by the year 2002 or 2003,"
said Jenny Wang, chief representative of Motorola (China) Electronics Ltd.
in a recent interview with Dow Jones Newswires.
Reaching that target of US$10 billion in annual sales may seem like a tall
order. Last year, the company's main production facility in Tianjin near
Beijing had sales of US$2.8 billion.
But the staff at Motorola's production facilities are gearing up for
expansion. E.L. Tay, vice president and director of operations for cellular
phone production, said the company's factory in Tianjin, China, is
expanding capacity to boost output by 50% next year. Currently, the
factory produces one million cellular phones a month. About 85% of the
factory's output is sold locally in China while the remainder is exported to
the U.S. and Europe.
"This is becoming a major cellular site," said Tay of the factory. Thanks to
China's relatively low labor costs, production there is about 15-20%
cheaper than in Singapore, and 30-40% cheaper than in Europe, Tay
noted.
For Motorola, China has grown to become its single-largest market
outside the U.S., accounting for about 11% of the company's total sales
last year, said Wang. |
