Firms Moving Factories From China To Other Parts Of Asia

Japanese corporations are diversifying production in Asia to rely less on China as a production base amid rising labor costs there and growing risks stemming from bilateral tensions.

Funai Electric Co. which makes DVD and Blu-ray Disc recorders and printers in China for export to the U.S. and other markets, plans to gradually shift production of entry-level and midpriced models to a factory it will build in the Philippines.

The new plant, slated to go onstream in 2014, will be located on a roughly 120,000 sq. meter plot that the firm bought in an industrial park near Manila. The overall investment in the factory is estimated at 3-4 billion yen. Funai also plans to lift the output capacity of its television factory in Thailand in the summer of 2014.