TOKYO -- Several Japanese ATM manufacturers are targeting sales in China to meet growing demand there in the run up to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, according to a report in the Taipei Times.
Oki Electric Industry Co Ltd, Hitachi Ltd and Omron Corp. have set their sights on the Chinese market, where the number of ATMs could swell from 30,000 now to 150,000 machines by 2008, according to industry watchers.
"We are starting to build [and sell] ATM machines in China already," Oki Electric spokeswoman Akiko Horiguchi told the Taipei Times.
The firm's wholly owned Chinese unit, Oki Electric Industry (Shenzhen) Co Ltd, aims to build 10,000 machines this year to be sold in China and also Japan.
"We aim mainly to sell them in the key cities such as Beijing and Shanghai where the demand is greatest," she said. "Oki decided to build a plant in China because it is [more expensive] to operate in Japan. Also we found that it's much better to have operations on the ground there when we plan to target the Chinese market."
Technology giant Hitachi has developed a module for ATMs to identify Chinese notes, which it plans to sell to U.S. and European ATM makers, spokesman Atsushi Kanno said. The firm also sells its own ATMs in China.
"The market for banking machines is only just starting and we think it will get much bigger," Kanno said, adding that at the moment all machines are made in Japan and shipped overseas.
Omron has a deal to supply U.S. computer giant IBM Corp with China-friendly ATMs. All are currently produced in Japan, but spokesman Osamu Hanasawa said Omron was looking at ways to produce components overseas such as in the Philippines.
