Apple’s Asia Purchase and OEM Office will be opening another office in Shanghai soon, according to the Commercial Times of Taiwan. The Asia Purchase and OEM Office was originally set up in Taiwain in 1994, and later set up an office in Shenzhen, China to handle production suppliers. The Shanghai office will handle new plants built in the area recently by Apple’s contract manufacturers, including Quanta, who manufactures iBooks, PowerBooks, and flat-panel iMacs, and Compal and Inventec. The move comes as Apple continues to expand its orders in the region in an effort to reduce manufacturing costs. In 2001, Apple spent roughly US$3 billion on purchase orders from Taiwan.
