Lenovo Opens Manufacturing Plants in Mexico and India

Lenovo Group Ltd. plans to ramp up its PC production by spending US$30 million on two new manufacturing and fulfillment plants in Mexico and India, the company said on Thursday.

Lenovo, the world's third-largest PC manufacturer, is also scouting locations in central and eastern Europe for other plants, part of the company's strategy to beef up its presence in what it called "economically vital" markets.

The Monterrey, Mexico, facility is due to open in mid-2008. It will represent Lenovo's largest manufacturing investment outside of China, capable of producing five million PCs annually. It will employ 750 and supply computers to the Americas.

The smaller plant at Baddi, in Himachal Pradesh, India, could start churning out PCs as soon as September and will eventually have a capacity of two million computers annually, Lenovo said. That plant will have 350 employees and supply the growing market in India.

Last month, Lenovo announced the opening of a new fulfillment center in Whitsett, North Carolina. It also has manufacturing facilities in Beijing, Huiyang, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China, and Pondicherry, India.

Lenovo managed to snag the number three spot for second-quarter PC shipments from rival Acer Inc. But Acer is expected to overtake Lenovo by the end of the year in a tough, low-margin PC market.