Japan-British PC firm to enter RI market

Japan-British PC firm to enter RI market

JAKARTA (JP): Fujitsu ICL Trading Asia Pte. Ltd. (FITA), a Singapore-based distributor of Fujitsu ICL personal computers, has committed to entering the Indonesian market in a new joint venture, managing director Alex Leung said.

"FITA will be forming a joint venture company with PT Askomindo Dinamika to establish a plant to manufacture Fujitsu ICL personal computers (PC) in Indonesia," he said.

He said the planned plant will manufacture some 300,000 to 400,000 PCs annually, some of which will be exported.

He refused to specify the investment needed to establish the plant, but said that similar projects generally require at least US$50 million.

The plant's license is still being processed at the Investment Coordinating Board.

"FITA's plan to market a new brand name, Fujitsu ICL, in Indonesia marks the arrival of a major new player in the competitive PC market," Leung said.

He added that FITA's ambitious target is to become one of the top three PC vendors in Asia by 1998.

FITA's managing director for Southeast Asia, Ben Shue, said that as a newcomer, FITA also expects to be among the top ten PC vendors in Indonesia this year with total sales of 10,000 sets.

He said competition on the Indonesian market is very tight, with total sales of 269,500 PCs of all brands in 1994 and 300,000 in 1995.

He calculated that PC sales in Indonesia are likely to increase by 20 percent this year to around 360,000 sets.

The Kompas daily reported recently that Acer of Taiwan has gained a 15 percent share of the PC market, compared to 7.5 percent recorded by Wearnes, 5.2 percent by Compaq, 3.8 percent by Hewlett-Packard, 3.3 percent by International Business Machine and 2.4 percent by Dell.

The last five are from the United States.

Shue said Fujitsu ICL PCs are manufactured by a joint venture company, which is 60 percent owned Fujitsu Limited of Japan and 40 percent by British ICL PLC. (kod)