Toshiba earmarks $1 bn for SE Asian expansion over next 5 years
HISAO Tanaka, the president and chief executive of Japan's Toshiba Corp, yesterday announced his company's comprehensive strategy for expanding its business in Southeast Asia, including investing US$1 billion (Bt32 billion) in the region over the next fiv
Speaking at a press conference in Jakarta, Tanaka detailed the infrastructure technologies and know-how that Toshiba proposes to deploy in Southeast Asia in support of building a better future and securing “a safe, secure and comfortable society”.
He said Southeast Asia had long been a strategic manufacturing hub for Toshiba’s major businesses, including semiconductors, hard-disk drives and solid-state drives, transmission and distribution equipment, industrial motors, televisions and other home appliances.
Building on this, the company will shortly start operation of a new infrastructure business in Indonesia as part of a regional network it is putting in place, and is also promoting major initiatives in healthcare.
“We are building a new medical-equipment manufacturing plant in Malaysia, alongside the medical-equipment sales company we established this June. We recently positioned healthcare as one of our three main pillars of business,” said the company chief.
Looking at relations between Southeast Asia and Japan, Tanaka referenced a recent survey that found that 33 per cent of people in this region, by far the largest group, considered Japan to be the most reliable partner.
“Southeast Asia currently enjoys positive benefits Japan does not have, including high economic growth and a young, highly capable workforce, and the hands of friendship add to the importance of our partnership,” he said.
“We have located many important strategic manufacturing hubs in the region.
And because of this, ensuring stable power supply, putting in place disaster-prevention measures and upgrading social infrastructure are all as important to us as they are to people here,” he said.
Toshiba’s plan to invest $1 billion in Southeast Asia over the next five years is the same amount the group has invested in the region totally over the past 20 years.
“Southeast Asia is dynamic and forward-looking, and so is Toshiba. More than anything else, I want Toshiba Group to engage deeply in Southeast Asia, to understand and respond to the unique qualities of each country.
Guided by our long-standing values and local wisdom, I want Toshiba to grow in harmony with the countries and communities of Southeast Asia, and to achieve our vision of creating a safe, secure and comfortable society, the ‘Human Smart Community’,” Tanaka said.
