Taiwan's Quanta says exploring setting up manufacturing base in India

Taiwan's Quanta Computer Inc, the world's top contract PC manufacturer which makes laptops and assembles watches for Apple Inc, said on Thursday it is considering establishing a manufacturing base in India.

"We're gathering materials for evaluation. We're looking into it," Quanta vice-chairman C C Leung told reporters, after the company's annual investor conference.

Quanta's move comes after rival Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, better known as Foxconn, announced that it will likely plow billions of dollars into establishing 10 to 12 facilities in India by 2020. Indian government officials have said Foxconn is in talks with main client Apple on the potential investments.

Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has sought to reboot manufacturing to boost growth and employment but it is yet to rival China, particularly in technology where most factories will likely be assembly units at first. Quanta's manufacturing facilities are all currently in China.

Leung said the company has no specific investment plans at present. He said that there are a number of considerations that must be taken into account when evaluating India's suitability for manufacturing.

"Can you get convenient transportation and access to ports? Can you get the whole tech supply chain together?" he said.

Quanta also manufactures laptops for Hewlett-Packard Co and is the main assembler for the recently-released Apple Watch.

The company said that its PC shipment volume and revenue contribution from PCs should remain about the same this year as last year, despite a 6.2% drop in shipments industry-wide predicted by market watchers International Data Corp.