RIYADH, 31 January 2006 — The Kingdom’s own desktop PC will roll off the assembly line in a year when Advanced Electronics Company (AEC) starts manufacturing the units at its facility in Riyadh as part of its imports-substitution program.
An agreement was signed in this regard between AEC, the Saudi Economic Offset Program Company, and Acer, the world’s top five branded PC vendors. This is the second agreement of its kind for Acer, which has entered into a similar arrangement in the UAE. Speaking after the signing ceremony, Ghassan Al-Shibl, president and CEO of AEC, said their company would produce 120,000 PCs in the first year of operation at a cost of SR220 million. Further, it would lead to the creation of 60 job opportunities in the company.
“We are extremely proud of our association with Acer, and we appreciate Acer’s recognition of our manufacturing competence and the quality of our work force, the majority of which are Saudis. This agreement . . . moves the company more into high volume manufacturing and diversifies our business base, while providing another challenging technical assignment for our Saudi employees.”
He said the computer manufacture is part of the government’s home computer initiative launched last year to make PCs affordable to the common man. They will be assembled at AEC’s plant in the third industrial estate.
Speaking on behalf of Acer, Emanuele Accolla, Acer’s vice president for Europe, Middle East and Africa, said: “This agreement represents our confidence in AEC’s quality and manufacturing capabilities.”
He said the Saudi plant demonstrates Acer’s strong commitment to the transfer of cutting-edge technologies, as well as participation of the IT sector in the Kingdom. “The Riyadh plant will open up massive inroads into the corporate segment, add a timely boost to efforts in the fast growing small and medium-sized businesses as well as allow Acer to further consolidate its position in the consumer sector.”
Krishna Mathew, Acer’s general manager for the Middle East, said the Kingdom’s computer market has been growing annually at the rate of 29 percent. Acer would seek to position itself with an overall growth rate of 25-30 percent annually to capitalize on the market boom, he said
