The output of cellphones in China's southern economic hub of Shenzhen is expected to exceed 100 million this year, accounting for one in every eight cellphones in the world.

 

Shenzhen has nearly 100 cellphone producers and assemblers and is base to about one third of name-brand domestic producers, according to statistics from the Shenzhen Wireless Communication Association.

 

The Taiwanese-run Foxconn Electronics Inc. assembles a total of 15 million Motorola and Nokia cellphones every year, while 10 million cellphones are produced annually in the city for Samsung and Philips.

 

A complete industry production chain was the key to Shenzhen's popularity among producers, said an official with the association.

 

"All of the 200 pieces of hardware in a cellphone are produced in Shenzhen and can be ordered by telephone in half an hour, and there're more than 100 cellphone design companies," he said

 

The favorable business environment was also a magnet for producers, he said.

 

The city's cellphone industry generates 200 billion yuan (US$25 billion) each year, according to the association.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2006)