Japanese to build factory for 2,000 employees in the Czech Republic

“The company will invest over 90 million euros and will gradually employ up to 2,000 people within couple of years. I am pleased that IPS Alpha has decided to build its production plant in the Triangle industrial zone, which belongs to the Usti Region in north-western Bohemia. It is large enough that potential suppliers and customers can also come here later,” says Tomas Hruda, CEO of CzechInvest.

IPS Alpha is a strategic alliance of three renowned firms—Hitachi, Panasonic and Toshiba. IPS Alpha will begin construction of the factory this year. The company’s management intends to start production in approximately one year later. IPS Alpha will use roughly 23 hectares of plots in the Triangle industrial zone.

“Strategic industrial zone Triangle is one of the largest and most prepared zones in Europe. We were waiting for important investor since 2002 when the zone became a property of Usti Region. We believe that the first investor, which is IPS Alpha, will attract other investor to come and it will also significantly help to decrease the unemployment rate in our Region,” stated president of Usti Region, Jiri Sulc.

At present, 166 Japanese firms are operating in the Czech Republic. These firms have invested, or will invest, nearly 2,2 billion euros here. The Czech Republic has thus become the most favoured destination for Japanese investors in the entire region of Central and Eastern Europe.

The Japanese firm IPS Alpha Technology, Ltd was founded in 2005 by the companies Hitachi Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Toshiba Corp. in order to satisfy the increasing demand large-screen LCD televisions. In connection with this, the companies decided to build state-of-the-art facilities in Japan and Europe. The Japanese factory for production of liquid-crystal displays was built in Mobara and full production capacity will be reached in January 2007. IPS Alpha has now decided to construct its European branch factory in the Czech Republic. Production volume of the both factories should reach approximately 5 million 32-inch LCD television displays in the second half of fiscal year 2007.