Taiwan companies assessing offer to set up handset joint venture in South Africa

Sunplus Technology, Inventec Appliances, Pegatron, and other Taiwan-based companies are assessing an offer from South African investors to set up a joint venture to make handsets in South Africa, according to industry sources.

The Investors have been in touch with many Taiwan handset makers in hopes of enlisting their help in building a handset industry in South Africa, the sources added.

The investors are looking to establish a production base with an annual capacity of 20 million handsets, the sources said. The South African investors want strategic partners for their handset operations, and appear to be backed by sufficient funding, the sources added.

In assessing the offer, Taiwan's handset makers need to find out whether products from the South African plant will only be shipped to the domestic market, or to overseas markets too.

If the handsets are to be shipped to other African countries, one of the key issues would be whether these shipments enjoy preferential tariffs, the sources said, adding that the South African market alone does not seem to be able to digest an annual output of 20 million handsets.

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