Chairman Hiroshi Shoda of Sony (China) Co Ltd said on Thursday his company aims to increase annual sales of its electronic products in China to US$4 billion in 2005. By 2008, sales are expected to reach US$8 billion - 10 times higher than the 2002 figure.

By then, the Chinese market will probably surpass that of Japan and become the second biggest market in the world for the Sony Group.

"I'm very confident of achieving the goal," Shoda said.

To realize its objective, the Japanese company has accelerated investment plans, pledged to improve its design and engineering, and to introduce its products to the Chinese market sooner.

Company statistics indicate that Sony's total investment in China has surpassed US$8 billion, a sharp increase compared with the US$5 billion it had spent by 2001.

It has, for example, boosted its spending on Sony Electronics (Wuxi) Co Ltd in East China's Jiangsu Province from US$23 million to US$99.25 million. The extra capital will make the Wuxi plant a key manufacturing base for Sony in China.

Sony has also pledged to expand its presence in the Chinese market by localizing its products.

Since 2002, Sony has established several design and development institutions in China, including the technology centre in Wuxi, the Zhangjiang software research centre in Shanghai and the information system solution centre in Dalian of Northeast China's Liaoning Province.

Sony has also purchased a majority share in Chengdu Sobey Digital Ltd in Southwest China's Sichuan Province to strengthen its local design and development capacity.

Finally, the Japanese company has pledged to release its latest products onto the Chinese market sooner.