BANGKOK - Thailand's Board of Investment said today it has decided to grant tax incentives to IBM to invest over 14 billion baht ($560 million) in two hard disk drive plants.
BoI deputy secretary general Chackchai Panichapat told reporters he expects the planned IBM plants, in eastern Thailand, to start production in late 1997.
He said 80 percent of the plants' output was geared for export with the remaining 20 percent destined for the Thai market.
BoI chief Staporn Kavitanond said that, if approved, the two IBM wholly-owned plants in Prachinburi and Chonburi provinces would generate about five billion baht in annual export revenue for Thailand.
He said the plants would boost Thailand's image as a regional center for the electronics industry.
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