Synnex Technology International Corp, Asia's largest IT product distributor, yesterday said it was in talks with Motorola Inc to offer logistics services to the world's second-largest handset maker in China.

"We have begun our deployment into China's handset market, and we will start with Motorola back-end logistics operations," Synnex's spokesman Lin Jun-jian said in a telephone interview yesterday.

Synnex, which commenced its operations in China in 1996, is currently the No. 2 distributor of computers and related products in the Chinese market, after US-headquartered Ingram Micro Inc.

Though Synnex has distributorships in China and other countries, it only supplies handset products in Taiwan and India, and the partnership with Motorola will further its efforts to expand handset business overseas, Lin said.

The deal, which is yet to be sealed, will offer back-end services such as cash flow, logistics and after-sale maintenance services to Motorola.

The long-term plan is to become the country-wide distributor for Motorola phones in China, he said.

Currently, Synnex has 23 ware-houses in China, and a logistics hub in Shanghai.

There will be two more logistics hubs established in Beijing and Chengdu next year, and two others in Nanjing and Guangzhou in 2008, Lin said.

"This will complete our logistics network in China, and secure our leadership as a distributor offering complete logistics services there," he said.

The next two years in China will be an expansion period for Synnex, which will spend another NT$1.5 billion (US$45.7 million) to grow its operations.

Synnex posted overseas sales of NT$7.4 billion last month, up 18 percent, year on year.

Last month figures accounted for 65 percent of Synnex's total sales, and the contribution of overseas revenue will rise to 80 percent in the next two years, the company said.

Annual handset sales in Taiwan are around 7 million units, which is equivalent to the monthly sales in China, the world's handset market.
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