Walton, a local electronic manufacturer, will open the first ever computer assembly plant in Bangladesh on Thursday.
Post, Telecommunication and Information Technology Minister Mustafa Jabbar is expected to inaugurate the factory, located at Chandra in Gazipur. State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Polok will attend the program as special guest.
In October last year, Walton launched their smartphone assembling factory, the first of its kind in Bangladesh.
“Since, the country is moving fast towards a digital Bangladesh, the demand for technological goods is rising everyday,” said Md Liakat Ali, in-charge of Walton Computer Project.
“Considering this demand and thinking ahead about exporting in the future we decided to produce the ‘Made in Bangladesh’ laptops locally.
“This venture is aimed at helping the government translate their vision of digital Bangladesh into reality,” he added.
The Walton laptops will have Windows operating system (OS), powered by Microsoft.
“These laptops will be of international standards with a smooth OS courtesy of Microsoft with whom we have already signed an MoU,” Liakat told the Dhaka Tribune.
Walton will first assemble the laptops at their own plant, the Walton Digi-Tech Industries Ltd, in Chandra, Gazipur. Then they will move to a complete manufacturing process.
The company has primarily targeted to produce 60,000 laptop, 30,000 desktops and 30,000 monitors a month. They will also produce pen drives, keyboards and mouse at the plant.
When they start full operations, Walton will create more than 1,000 jobs.
Md Liakat Ali, in-charge of Walton Computer Project, said the laptops will be priced reasonably as students are their target market.
Operative Director (Creative and Publication) of Walton Uday Hakim told the Dhaka Tribune that the project will help Bangladesh reduce her import dependency. It will also create an opportunity to export to neighboring countries like Nepal, Bhutan where the company is already exporting electronics good to.