Taiwan's Inventec looks to Texas amid Trump tariff actions

Taipei, Feb. 8 (CNA) Inventec Corp., one of the leading contract electronics makers in Taiwan, is seeking a production site in the U.S. state of Texas at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump has launched trade tariffs.

In a statement, Inventec said on Friday that the company is searching for an ideal location in Texas with a stable electricity supply to meet the company's needs as it is scheduled to build a factory there in the second half of this year at the earliest.

The company said the new Texas facility will assemble mother boards using components shipped from Taiwan.

The statement came after Inventec said in mid-January that it was considering rolling out products in the United States.

Inventec is one of the largest Taiwanese electronics device suppliers planning to set up factories or expand production in the U.S., in particular after Trump signed executive orders on Feb. 1 to impose a 25 percent tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico and raise tariffs by 10 percent on imports from China.

On Feb. 4, Trump announced a pause on his tariff threats against Canada and Mexico for one month pending negotiations, while the tariff hike against China became effective as scheduled.

Inventec admitted production costs in the U.S. are likely to be higher by as much as 30 percent, but the efforts to extend its manufacturing reach to the U.S. market are necessary to meet demand from its clients there.

In the short term, Inventec said it will ship its products to the U.S. markets from its facilities located in countries such as the Czech Republic and Thailand, which have faced no tariff threats from Trump.

For its part, Wistron Corp., another Taiwanese major contract electronics maker, said it already has facilities in Texas and California and will be able to adjust its production there any time as required by its clients.

In mid-January, Taiwan-based contract electronics supplier Compal Electronics, Inc. said it was mulling investing in the United States with company president Anthony Peter Bonadero saying the manufacturer is looking at several options particularly in states in the southern U.S., and Texas is one of the leading options as it is the only state in the U.S. to own an independent electricity grid network.

After Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on Mexico, where more than 300 Taiwanese firms have plants, Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) has pledged to provide necessary assistance to them.

Among the measures, the MOEA has planned to set up an investment and trade center in Texas.

The MOEA said the upcoming investment and trade center in Texas, along with more in other parts of the U.S., would serve as a bridge to state governments for Taiwanese companies to obtain the necessary assistance.

According to the MOEA, investment and trade centers are planned in states that have signed memorandums of understanding with Taiwan for investment cooperation, with Texas being one of them.

(By Jeffrey Wu and Frances Huang)

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