Will Toshiba choose Poland as site for LCD TV factory?

The company is to choose between Poland and the Czech Republic. According to a Puls Biznesu source, Toshiba wants to employ 1,000 people and invest EUR 50 million in the factory. The Japanese are interested in a location in south-western Poland where they can choose between several plots of land. Toshiba may invest on its own, or in cooperation with its partners with which it creates the IPS Alpha company i.e. Hitachi and Panasonic. IPS Alpha informed in June that it will invest EUR 90 million in an LCD screen factory in the Czech Republic and this may be a disadvantage for Poland as a possible location of the new investment."We are trying to persuade Toshiba to invest in Poland. But the fact that the elements for TV set production will be manufactured in the Czech Republic is a disadvantage," stated a Puls Biznesu source. For the time being Toshiba is not commenting on the issue. "We have no final plans at the moment," stated Junko Furuta from Toshiba's press office. (Puls Biznesu, pp.1, 6) E.B.