Lenovo boosts outsourcing in Flextronics deal targeting Emea

Mainland computer giant Lenovo Group is accelerating efforts to grow in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (Emea) region by increasing its outsourced manufacturing with Flextronics International.

A range of Lenovo products targeting customers in that region - including desktops, servers and workstation computers - will be produced from this year at Flextronics' plant in Sarvar, Hungary.

'We are expanding our relationship with Flextronics, which has spanned several years, to improve our cost-competitiveness and better serve our customers in Emea,' a Lenovo spokeswoman said. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

More importantly, the arrangement represents an increased commitment to outsource by Lenovo, the world's fourth-largest supplier of personal computers. The firm has so far largely focused production at its own facilities in Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing and Huiyang, and in Pondicherry in India, Monterrey in Mexico, and Greensboro, North Carolina.

The new arrangement also broadens the geographical service area for Lenovo covered by Flextronics, the world's second-largest electronics manufacturing services provider. The Singapore-based firm, which has operations in 30 countries, is currently providing what it described as 'mechanical and system solutions' to Lenovo on the mainland, and manufacturing services in Brazil.

'This deal [in Hungary] allows Lenovo to take advantage of our high-volume personal computer manufacturing facility, located in a competitively positioned region within Europe,' said Sean Burke, the president of Flextronics' computing unit.