Alcatel Announcement - this gives you a good idea of why they are investing in China.
Alcatel Expands into Asia PR:
ALCATEL SET FOR GROWTH IN ASIA PACIFIC
Shanghai, January 17 2000: Alcatel today announced it will cluster its
10,000-people operation in Asia Pacific into one region, headquartered
in Shanghai. This new initiative reflects the confidence Alcatel has in the
economic growth of Asia Pacific and recognizes Asia Pacific as a major
pillar in Alcatel's global business.
Alcatel's operations in Asia Pacific are present in the entire region: from
Korea to New Zealand, Myanmar to Fiji.
The Chairman and CEO of Alcatel, Mr Serge Tchuruk, announced that
Asia Pacific President, Ron Spithill would head the expanded Asia
Pacific operations centred in Shanghai.
"We expect strong growth in Asia Pacific over the next three to five
years. We see China's demand for telecommunications and Internet
services stimulating dynamic growth in the region," said Mr. Tchuruk.
"By 2003 China will have overtaken Japan as the region's largest
telecommunications market. The establishment of our regional office
will enable faster, more effective decision-making close to our
customers."
"The Asia Pacific telecommunications market is set to grow 40 percent
from 1999 to 2003, and we have the most complete set of
telecommunications solutions of any supplier. Alcatel is already
acknowledged as the world leader in fast Internet-related products like
ADSL, as well as in many fields of optics technologies."
With Internet growth rates predicted to explode and Asia Pacific
expected to have 400 million users by 2005, Alcatel is ideally placed to
evolve the current networks to become fully Internet-enabled. The
company has had a major role in building Asia's telecommunications
networks and is uniquely positioned to re-shape and enhance its
customers' services to fully utilize the new commercial opportunities the
Internet will bring to Asia Pacific.
Alcatel's new organization in Asia Pacific will present customers with the
industry's most comprehensive Internet solutions portfolio. These
solutions have been developed from the company's traditionally strong
base in Europe and from the US operations, which were boosted by a
series of acquisitions. "One of our primary objectives is now to replicate
in Asia our successes in Europe and the US," said Asia Pacific
President, Ron Spithill.
"Alcatel is one of the first global companies to locate its regional
headquarters in Shanghai. Within our many areas of business, and
throughout our 17 joint ventures, we have more than 5,000 people in
China, including 4,000 working in Shanghai," said Mr. Spithill. "The
presence of this very substantial resource and technology base makes
Shanghai the logical choice for our regional headquarters," he said.
Concerning the transfer of technology, Mr. Tchuruk commented, "We
initially established R&D facilities in China to serve the local market, in
particular for local manufacturing purposes. Now we plan to establish
R&D excellence centres in China to develop technology for Alcatel's
worldwide market."
Alcatel is also expanding its manufacturing activities in China. It recently
announced a new operation to manufacture GSM phones in Suzhou, and
will shortly open a new facility in Shanghai for cellular network antennas,
connector and radiating systems. Shanghai Bell, the long lasting
manufacturing partnership between Alcatel and China, is one of the
largest switching plants in the world with a capacity of over 10 million
lines per year. All of these ventures will serve both the domestic and
export markets.
About Alcatel
Alcatel builds next generation networks, delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data
communications solutions to established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and
consumers worldwide. With 120,000 employees and sales of EURO 21.3 billion ($25.0
billion), Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries |
