Arima’s new factory opening is immanent

Arima Communications have announced that their new handset factory in Wujiang, China will begin commercial production operations by the end of this month. The capacity of the plant will be between 1.2 and 1.7 million units per month.

The new factory will be producing handsets for LG Electronics, Sony Ericsson and Sharp, whilst the existing factory in Yingko, Taiwan, will change its operations to focus production solely on smartphones.

This year, seven of LG’s eight outsourced handsets will be subcontracted to Arima, with total shipments expected to reach 4 million units. Three of LG’s outsourced models - the KP199, 220 and 320 - will start being shipped in the first half of this year. The other four handsets, which include a 5-megapixel camera-phone, and two low cost phones, will ship in the second half of this year.

Shipments to Sony Ericsson are expected to reach 12 million units. Shipments of 2G handsets to Sharp will begin in April.

Meanwhile, Arima’s Yingko factory will be shipping smartphones to WMG, i-mate and E-Ten Information Systems, bringing Arima’s total shipments for the year up to 17 million units, a 50% increase compared to last year.