Business

EXFO launches Shenzhen plant

By Chen Hong (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-04-23 10:34

EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering Inc, a leading telecommunications test and measurement solution provider, opened its first manufacturing plant outside its headquarters yesterday in the southern high-tech hub Shenzhen.

The Quebec City, Canada-based firm has recognized China, a booming exporter with generous investments in the telecom sector, as the most important strategic market for its global expansion, company founder and CEO Germain Lamonde told China Daily.

"We expect that 50 percent of all EXFO sales will be derived from products assembled in Shenzhen in three to four years. These products will supply global markets," Lamonde said. The company now operates a main factory in Canada.

Occupying a total floor area of 4,600 sq m in an industrial park near the airport, the new factory would assemble hand-held fiber-optic test and measurement equipment.

"China has been the second largest market of EXFO in the world, and it will become more significant in the future," Lamonde said.

The company has seen growing opportunities in the Chinese market with the government's huge investment in telecom infrastructure - crucial to supporting the country's rapidly developing economy - and the growing demand from businesses and residents for faster and better telecom facilities, he added.

It has worked with major Chinese operators, including China Telecom and China Mobile, as well as system vendors, such as Huawei, ZTE and Fiberhome.

"With the new factory, we expect the revenue contribution from the Asian market will account for 15 percent over next two to five years and a bigger percentage five years on," Lamonde said.