Meiko opens $50M Vietnam PCB arm

Meiko Electronics said on April 8 it will set up a new wholly owned printed circuit board subsidiary in Vietnam with $50 million in capital. (meiko-elec.com) The new company, Meiko Electronics Yen Quang Co., Ltd., is scheduled to be established on April 25 in Phu Tho Province’s Amber Yen Quang Industrial Park. Akito Tsuchibashi will serve as representative and general director. (meiko-elec.com) Printed circuit boards are the layered boards that connect chips, sensors, cameras and batteries inside phones, cars and factory equipment. Meiko said the new subsidiary will build a plant to make those boards as customer demand in Southeast Asia rises beyond the capacity of its existing and under-construction factories. (meiko-elec.com) The company tied the move to customers shifting production closer to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, and localizing supply chains inside the region. Vietnamese and regional reports said Meiko’s existing Vietnam operations are nearing full use. (meiko-elec.com) (news.tuoitre.vn) Vietnam has become a central manufacturing base for Meiko over two decades. The company entered the country in 2006, and its Vietnam website says the first project in what is now Hanoi carried planned investment of $300 million. (meiko-elec.com.vn) (news.tuoitre.vn) This is not Meiko’s only recent expansion in the country. In January, Vietnam Investment Review, citing Nikkei Asia, reported Meiko planned a ¥40 billion, or about $255 million, plant in Vietnam to make boards for Samsung smartphones, with construction expected in 2026 and mass production in 2027. (vir.com.vn) Tuoi Tre News reported Meiko now operates five printed circuit board manufacturing and assembly facilities in Vietnam, while The Asset said the new Yen Quang unit would bring the group to six plants in the country. Both reports said Meiko’s total planned investment in Vietnam is approaching $1 billion. (news.tuoitre.vn) (theasset.com) For Vietnam, the project adds another electronics supplier tied to the phone and consumer-device supply chain clustered around northern industrial parks. For Meiko, it is another bet that customers moving production into ASEAN will keep buying more circuit boards nearby. (theinvestor.vn) (meiko-elec.com)