Matshushita to Invest in Philippine DVD Plant Feb 21, 2003

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Japanese manufacturer Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. will invest 1.75 billion pesos (U.S.$ 32.3 million) over the next 5 years to manufacture DVD multidisk drives in its Philippine factory.

The DVD multidisk drives, which can read, write, and erase data on rewriteable compact disks and DVDs for notebook and personal computers, would be the first of its kind in the world, according to Hiroshi Nishimura, president of Kyushu Matsushita Electric Corp., or KMEC, Matsushita's computer making arm.

The pioneering technology made Matsushita's project eligible for incentives from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, which include a minimum income tax holiday of 8 years and duty-free importation of capital equipment.

The new production line will start operations this month and is expected to produce 1.38 million DVD drives every year. All of the factory's output will be exported. KMEC plans to sell its DVD drives for $100 each in the first year, a price that will decline to $50 in the fifth year. (Dow Jones)

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