MORRISVILLE, N.C. – If Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) sells off its PC manufacturing plants, including its gigantic facility in Winston-Salem, don’t expect Lenovo to be among the bidders.
So says William Amelio, chief executive officer of the Morrisville-based PC maker.
Speaking to reporters at a technology conference in Singapore (where he lives) on Tuesday, Amelio said Lenovo “has enough capacity” for making laptops and desktops.
In fact, Lenovo is adding capacity with a new plant in Poland.
Amelio also said the world’s fourth-ranked PC maker plans to keep its manufacturing capability.
The Wall Street Journal sparked consternation last week in the Triad with its report that Dell might get out of the manufacturing business and outsource the machine-building in order to cut costs. Dell is No. 2 in the PC world behind HP. (Acer is third.)
However, Amelio didn’t say all was bright for Lenovo. He noted that the economic slowdown could affect technology spending in the year ahead.
"The only thing I would caution is that we are coming into a budget cycle now," Amelio said, according to Bloomberg and Reuters.
Dell received a bushel of state and local incentives (more than $340 million) in 2004 to build the $100 million W-S facility. It makes personal computers and servers and employs several hundred people.
In exchange for the payments and tax breaks, which are spread over years, Dell promised in 2004 to create at least 1,500 jobs and to invest at least $100 million in the area over the following 15 years.
The 750,000-square-foot operation opened in the fall of 2005.
Meanwhile, founder Michael Dell remains bullish about his company’s stock. He bought $100 million in shares last week, according to a regulatory filing.
