Hewlett-Packard, the world’s largest PC maker, will locate its new manufacturing plant in China’s Chongqing Municipality to strengthen the US company’s presence in Western China and better serve the fast-growing Chinese market.
HP will operate the 20000-square-meter facility, which will be built by the Chinese government, and manufacturing operations are expected to commence in 2010.
HP is the second-largest PC maker in China and nearly 7,000 Chinese retail stores carry HP products. HP already has manufacturing operations in Shanghai and the new plant is expected to have the capacity to meet market demand in Chongqing as well as other parts of China across government, public and retail sectors.
In 1997, Chongqing was approved as China’s fourth centrally-administered municipality after Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, and it is the only city in western China directly under the central government.
The city has 500,000 university students and more than 1,000 research and development institutions. The municipality is also the largest production base of motorcycles and motorcycle parts in the world.
Chongqing’s GDP amounted to 210.476 billion yuan (US$30 billion) in the first half of 2008, up 15.2% from the same period year ago.
Chongqing has one of the fastest growing economies in China. Last year, per capita GDP in Chongqing reached 14,622 yuan (US$2,138), up 15.2% at the fastest pace since 1997. Local GDP was $410 billion yuan (US$60 billion) with a growth rate of 15.6% over the prior year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
Source: Chongqing Municipal Bureau of Statistics
The development of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone will be a catalyst for the territory to become an engine of economic growth for the country’s vast western region. It is expected that the area, which now accounts for about 5% of the national GDP, will leap to 10% in another five to 10 years.
