Japan’s Meiko Electronics plans $200 mln circuit board factory in northern Vietnam

Japan’s Meiko Electronics plans to begin work on a $200-million factory in the northern province of Hoa Binh next March.

Meiko Electronics director and managing executive officer Atsushi Sakate met Monday with provincial officials and sought help with investment procedures, planning, power supply, water supply and sewage so that the project can meet its deadlines.

The firm, which designs and manufactures printed circuit boards (PCBs), plans to build the 9.2-hectare factory at the Bo Trai Song Da Industrial Park.

Hoa Binh Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Phi Long welcomed the project and asked the Japanese firm to establish a working group to collaborate with provincial agencies. He assured that the province would do its best to facilitate the project. It would also invest in traffic infrastructure to help the investors, he added.

Long asked local agencies to cooperate with the industrial park and study the firm's suggestion about building a stand-alone wastewater treatment facility for the factory.

The factory in Hoa Binh will be the fourth that Meiko Electronics is building in Vietnam. The other three, with a total investment of $500 million, employ 7,000 people and contribute $30 million to the state budget annually, Sakate said.

The three existing factories, also in northern Vietnam, are located in the Thach That-Quoc Oai Industrial Zone and Thang Long Industrial Park in Hanoi; and the Phuc Dien Industrial Zone in Hai Duong province.

Meiko Electronics recorded a post-tax profit of $15.73 million in April-June 2023, the first quarter of its fiscal year 2024, down 42% year-on-year, according to the firm’s financial statement. Its net sales in the same period reached $286.84 million, up 3.9% .

Besides its Vietnam factories, the firm operates five plants in Japan and two in China.