Xiaomi is China's leading domestic smartphone maker. (Photo : www.europe.chinadaily.com.cn)
As part of an overseas manufacturing deal, Taiwan's contract laptop maker Inventec is partnering with China's top domestic smartphone maker Xiaomi for the latter's Indonesian and Indian productions.
Inventec Chairman Richard Lee revealed that his firm is one of Xiaomi's overseas manufacturing partners.
Lee shared with the press on the sidelines of the 20th World Electronics Forum and the 11th Asia Electronics Forum last Monday that "it's only a matter of time" before his company gets production going in Indonesia.
Moreover, Lee said that their new factory in India is making "smooth progress."
Lee, nonetheless, opted not to confirm whether or not it is Inventec's Indian factory that will manufacture Xiaomi's first laptop, which is due for release in the first half of 2016.
Meanwhile, the Inventec chairman also said that he is optimistic that Xiaomi's smartphone shipments will continue to grow, adding that it could outperform the overall market in 2016.
Lee cited Xiaomi's roster of economical yet high-quality smartphones as a key to the said continued growth. He also acknowledged that the five-year-old Chinese firm is likely to grow at a slower pace, as predicted by industry analysts.
Last year, Inventec's handset subsidiary Inventec Appliance assembled around 30 million smartphone units for the Chinese brand.
As cited by a Wall Street Journal article, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun said that his firm is on track to reach this year's 80 million smartphone sales mark. The figure is a 31-percent increase from last year's 61.1 million.
However, Lei did not disclose Xiaomi's forecast for next year.
