"As we expand our product line-up, it is impossible to manufacture all of them by ourselves," a Toshiba Corp. spokesman said.

Samsung Electronics Co. is supplying the Japanese technology giant with small washing machines under the Toshiba brand, marking the firm's first procurement from South Korea in the "white goods" home appliance division.

Toshiba aims to sell 10,000 of the washing machine in Japan in the first year, the spokesman said.

Mitsubishi Electric Corp. said it would increase the range of washing machines it buys from Samsung, boosting total procurement to 120,000 units in the year to March 2004.

The number is about four times as high as the year-before, a spokesman said.

Profit margins were slim for smaller washing machines if they are produced in Japan, he noted, adding that the outsourcing would also enable Mitsubishi to reduce development costs.

SPACE.WIRE