Business

Monday June 29, 2009

US memory product maker seeks more partners

By LEE KIAN SEONG


PETALING JAYA: US-based computer memory product maker Kingston Technology Co, Inc views Malaysia as a potential growth market and will continue to look for new business partners in the country to deploy new creative strategies, says president John Tu.

“For example, we are working within the music and entertainment industry to create more interesting products and creative ways to distribute content,” he told StarBiz in an interview.

“Our strategy to continue growing in Malaysia is to rely on our core competency, which is competitive pricing, quality products and outstanding customer service.”

Kingston’s local operations generated US$60mil revenue last year, about a 1% drop from 2007, as global sales slumped US$500mil to US$4bil.

»Our strategy is to rely on core competency, which is competitive pricing, quality products and outstanding customer s ervice« JOH N TU

Operations in South-East Asia – comprising Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand – contributed about 20% to its Asia-Pacific revenue in 2008.

The drop in global sales was mainly due to the downward fluctuations in the price of dynamic random access memory, although the product registered a 34% increase in units shipped, Tu said.

“Kingston still managed to maintain a decent growth in units shipped, which translates into an expansion in market share,” he noted.

He added that it was too early for the company to make projections for this year’s performance as the market was still trying to recover, but noted that strategic regions like Latin America were performing well.

On cost-cutting measures, Tu said the company reviewed its costs constantly regardless of the economic situation.

Founded in 1987, Kingston employs about 4,000 people worldwide, with headquarters in Fountain Valley, California. It has a plant in Malaysia.

The company offers about 2,000 memory products which support devices such as computers, servers and printers, MP3 players, digital cameras and cell-phones.


For latest Bursa Malaysia indices, charts and other information click here

  • E-mail this story
  • Print this story