Japan’s videogame giant Nintendo Supplier Moves Factory to Cambodia

• 20 December 2019
• Local News
• 6222 Views

Japanese electronic device maker MinebeaMitsumi Inc will relocate part of its video game console production operation to Cambodia from China, under the ‘Made in Cambodia’ label.

The company said on Tuesday this week that starting 2020, the company plans to begin assembling here videogame consoles for export, according to Japanese news agency NNA.

The move is seen as a response to US tariffs on products manufactured in China as part of an ongoing trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

MinebeaMitsumi, who supplies videogame giant Nintendo Co, will be upgrading its gaming device-assembling plant in Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone, where the firm also manufactures ball bearings and LED lights.

During a meeting with Samdech Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia on Wednesday last week, Yoshihisa Kainuma, chairman and CEO of MinebeaMitsumi, said the company invested $327 million in the Kingdom last year.

Mr Yoshihisa said that the company has been given a green light to produce video game consoles that will be labelled ‘Made in Cambodia’.

“The company will soon begin producing PSP games and Nintendo game devices under the ‘Made in Cambodia’ label for export to international market,” he said.

Prime Minister Hun Sen applauded the company’s plans and noted that the ‘Made in Cambodia’ label will make the country more attractive to international investors.

“We are proud that the company will produce electronic devices that carry our country’s name and that these products will be shipped all over the world,” he said.

MinebeaMitsumi established a local subsidiary in Phnom Penh in 2010, becoming the country’s first manufacturer of precision electronic components.

MinebeaMitsumi has also installed nearly 7,000 high-efficiency LED streetlights in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, according to Mr Yoshihisa.

He said the company employs 7,000 Cambodian workers and that it plans to employ at least 20,000 in the near future.

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