EASTERN EUROPE – Industry sources say that Ukraine and Romania will be the next booming locations for electronics manufacturing, according to an industry report on Central and Eastern Europe.

According to a report by Technology Forecasters Inc., the Ukraine's labor costs are about one-third of Central Europe's, and the area has both the available engineering talent and labor force to drive the move. Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region, which borders several Central European countries, already hosts two large EMS companies, Jabil Circuit and Flextronics.

The report also cites concerns about expansion in the area, which include both corruption and the protection of intellectual property.

"There is a huge corruption problem in the Ukraine and Russia," an unnamed senior EMS manager reported. "This is just the business culture. To operate in these areas, American companies must learn that this is the way of business and accept it if they wish to participate."

Romania was selected as one of the most desirable locations for low-cost manufacturing operations in Eastern Europe. "We are operating in Romania nearly at the same cost level as we see in China," said a senior EMS executive.

Besides Jabil Circuit and Flextronics, Celestica, Elcoteq, and Benchmark also operate facilities in Romanian, and Nokia has recently begun manufacturing operations in Cluj Napoca in Western Romania.

• Prev
• Next