Osaka, Japan: Daikin Industries has announced that it has decided to invest approximately JPY 10 billion in a production base in Thang Long Industrial Park II, located in the suburbs of Hanoi, in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Said to be the first production base in the country, the factory, the company said, is scheduled to begin operations from April 2018, and is slated to manufacture residential-use air conditioners.

As air conditioning market is expanding in Asia, Daikin said that it is, therefore, expanding its sales network and bolstering its after-sales service system in Asia, as sales are steadily growing in such countries as Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand.

Explaining the reason behind the investment, Daikin highlighted that the demand for air conditioners in Vietnam has experienced rapid growth, centring particularly on residential-use air conditioners, due to the country’s economic development and expanding middle class, and it has reportedly become the largest market in Asia for air conditioners. Additionally, with electric bills comparably high, relative to income, energy-saving products, such as inverter-type air conditioners, continue to gain popularity, said the company.

Daikin said that it has made strengthening the air conditioning business in the rapidly growing market of Asia an important measure in its strategic management plan – Fusion 20, and added that it will aim for JPY 380 billion in sales for Asia in 2018 as it works to further expand business in every country beginning with Vietnam.

With production bases established in Thailand, Malaysia and India, Daikin said that it currently provides products to each country in the Asia region.