Thailand to be centre for Fujitsu's move into 4 new markets

The Nation
May 31, 2012

Japanese IT company Fujitsu aims to double its revenue in Asia in two years, using Thailand as the centre of its foray into four new markets: Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
"Thailand and East Asia are important markets for us. We will focus on this region," Fujitsu president Masami Yamamoto said yesterday in a group interview at the World Economic Forum |on East Asia. "This year, we will have investments and business expansions in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, |and Thailand will be the centre of our expansion into these four markets." 

He said the company aimed to double its annual revenue in Thailand within two years from 100 million Singapore dollars (Bt2.5 billion) currently. In the same period, it targets doubling its S$600 million annual revenue from Asia as a whole. To achieve these goals, it will invest more in the region and the Kingdom this year.

"Two main focus areas for investment this year in Thailand and East Asia are data centres and human resources," Yamamoto said.

Because of the natural disasters last year in Japan and Thailand, the company is rethinking its supply-chain strategy, he said. |It plans to expand its manufacturing bases and focus on global, multipurpose supply chains. 

"This is to reduce the risk when a natural disaster occurs. But this does not mean we will not focus on Thailand. Thailand is |still one of our important markets. Importantly, this year Thailand will be our operational centre for stepping into four new |markets." 

The president said that the plan to move into Burma, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, the company would enter in these markets as one of Japanese group of companies with the lead in the markets by Japanese government. 

Yamamoto said that as the world faces the three challenges of food safety, environmental protection and energy supply, Fujitsu was working with the Thai and Japanese governments on pilot projects applying technologies such as sensor monitoring systems and simulations to manage the problems at Map Ta Phut industrial estate in Rayong province. The company has similar projects in other countries.

He noted that the WEF conference in Davos, Switzerland, early this year highlighted the role of information and communications technology in sustainable development and disaster resilience.

"This is also one of our focuses. We hope to provide our technologies to help people and create a better world," Yamamoto said.