Apple supplier Pegatron expects US plant to be completed by end-March

By Wen-Yee Lee

TAIPEI, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Taiwanese contract electronics manufacturer Pegatron's 4938.TW first U.S. factory, in Texas, is expected to be completed by the end of March, with trial production to begin around then or April, President and CEO Kuang-Chih Cheng said on Friday.

The company, a supplier to Apple AAPL.O, Microsoft MFST.N and Tesla TSLA.O, said in October it had acquired an industrial building and land in Texas, joining other Taiwanese tech manufacturers investing in the state including Foxconn 2317.TW, Inventec 2356.TW and Wistron 3231.TW.

"The U.S. plant is our first factory established and operated in the United States," Cheng told reporters in Taipei.

The factory will produce AI server products, including those using Nvidia NVDA.O chips.

"It is currently scheduled to be completed by the end of March, and we should be able to begin trial production in late March or April."

The Trump administration has been pushing tech powerhouse Taiwan, which runs a large trade surplus with the U.S., to invest more in the country.

The U.S. and Taiwan reached a trade deal last week under which Taiwanese companies will invest $250 billion to boost production of semiconductors, energy and artificial intelligence in the U.S., and the tariff on U.S. imports from Taiwan will be cut to 15% from 20%.

Pegatron has been diversifying manufacturing sites away from China since U.S. President Donald Trump's first term, expanding into Southeast Asia and Mexico. It already has a maintenance base in Indiana and an office in California.