[Japanese] Auto Parts Maker Invests in Phnom Penh SEZ

By Simon Lewis
The Cambodia Daily
January 25, 2013 

The Japanese automobile parts maker Denso Corporation announced on Wednesday that it will open a factory in the Phnom Penh Spe­cial Economic Zone (SEZ) in July to produce electronic components.

According to a statement posted on the company’s website, Den­so Corp. will invest $400,000 in the operation, which will em­ploy ap­proximately 100 people by 2014.

The factory “will produce sensor components for ignition magnetos,” the statement says. “The new company plans to gradually pro­duce other products for the region,” it continued.

Hiroshi Uematsu, managing director of the Phnom Penh SEZ, said that Denso Corp. had agreed to rent a factory unit at the end of last year.

“It is just the beginning. They want to expand the production basis due to increasing demand, and want to diversify it due to the experience of floods in Thailand and earthquake in Japan,” he said in an email.

Mr. Uematsu also said that Denso Corp. was joining fellow Japanese automobile parts makers Sumi Wiring Systems, Maru­san Plastic and G.S. Electech at the Phnom Penh SEZ, and said he expected more Japanese firms to come.

In December, another Japa­nese automobile parts manufacturer, Yazaki Corporation, finished building a factory in Koh Kong’s SEZ, making electrical wiring systems and dashboard meters for cars.