Hardware Manufacturing

 

 

Local PC Manufacturers   IT Market Value

 

 

 

 

Introduction

While Singapore and Malaysia are the regional leaders of information technology development, the Government of Thailand is making efforts to strengthen its own competitive advantage in this sector. The Association of Thai Computer Industry (http://www.atci.or.th/) reported a 46% growth rate of information technology goods and services in 1999, a monetary value of US$925 million.1

 

 

Local PC Manufacturers    back to top

The local manufacturers of personal computers are endangered because of the high import taxes that are placed on computer parts. The Association of Thai Computer Industry (ACTI) has asked the government to reconsider these high taxes and to recognize the negative impact that they have on local industry.

Under the Information Technology Agreement (ITA1), which was recently introduced, an imported computer from particular countries has no import tax associated with it. However, many of the individual parts that the local manufacturers require to build computers domestically, are still heavily taxed.  These parts include monitors, keyboards, mouse, hard disk, CD ROMs, floppy drives, CPUs, modems, motherboards and routers.2

An average of 240,000 PCs are manufactured locally each year, but if the taxes remain high and more foreign hardware industries begin to set up shop in Thailand, the local industry is endanger of being completely wiped out. Also, if China joins the WTO, then more of the PC orders will go to China, especially because China has lower labor costs than Thailand. 

Some of the major local companies include Powerll, Atec, and Belta.3

 

 

IT Market Value    back to top

According to a study by two Thai computer industry groups, the value of the IT market in Thailand was 30.47 billion Baht (US$ 1.22 billion) 1995, a 39 percent increase over the previous year. It reached 35.82 billion Baht (US$ 1.41 billion) in 1996, an 18 percent increase. It is estimated to reach 40.263 billion baht (US$ 1.56 billion) in 1997, a 12 percent increase.4

 

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Sources:

1"Thailand Starting to Move on Information Technology," Asia-Point Network

2  Boonruang, Sasiwimon, " Manufacturing: Local Brand PCs May Die Out - ATCI; Industry worried about tax policy," The Nation, The Nation Publishing Group,  10/30,2000, LEXIS-NEXIS ® Academic Universe.

3 Boonruang, Sasiwimon, " Manufacturing: Local Brand PCs May Die Out - ATCI; Industry worried about tax policy," The Nation, The Nation Publishing Group,  10/30,2000, LEXIS-NEXIS ® Academic Universe.

4"Thailand Starting to Move on Information Technology," Asia-Point Network