HEWLETT-PACKARD Inc will open a new manufacturing facility in Shanghai's Pudong New Area under a plan by the world's biggest PC maker to lift investment and production capacity in China, it said yesterday.

"The investment in Shanghai is a clear evidence representing HP's commitment to China," said Tony Prophet, HP's senior vice president in charge of the printing and personal systems division.

HP will increase investment and boost production capacity in Shanghai and China, especially in manufacturing "advanced and innovative" products, including high-end personal computers, storage devices and servers, said Prophet, who declined to reveal detailed figures.

The Pudong factory will open later this year, according to Yi Xiaohui, president of HP's PPS division in China.

The company plans to expand in both the printer and PC sectors in China, the world's biggest IT market.

Since HP entered China in 1985, the country has become its biggest manufacturing base globally. In Shanghai, it has factories and development and research centers for PC and printer.

The global sales of PCs dropped 11.2 percent to 79.2 million units in 2012. At the end of the first quarter of this year, HP still led the global market with 14.8 percent share, according to Gartner, a US-based IT research firm.

At the end of the fourth quarter of last year, HP's share in the Chinese PC market rose to 7 percent from 5.3 percent at the end of second quarter, Yi said, citing figures by IDC, a US-based IT research firm.

In 2012, 69 million PCs were sold in China, surpassing 66 million in the US, according to IHS iSuppli.