HP To Invest $1 Billion In Singapore

SINGAPORE (AP) -- Hewlett Packard Co. will spend $1 billion in Singapore over the next five years to expand and upgrade its manufacturing, the computer company said Tuesday.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company said in a statement the investment will allow it to make high-end servers and printers, and cater to rising demand from China and South Korea.

The company, which is the world's No. 2 computer maker, is among Singapore's largest foreign investors with some 6,000 employees based here at its Southeast Asian hub.

The investment will enhance current manufacturing in Singapore with "new machines, new people, and new plants," Paul Chan, HP's managing director for the Asia-Pacific told reporters at a news conference.

In addition, the company will move production of some of its Superdome servers to Singapore from the United States in order to garner "sizable" cost savings and to be closer to its regional customers, said Chong Chiet Ping, HP's vice president for Asia Pacific Enterprise Manufacturing.