Olympus to build $44 mln camera plant in Vietnam

TOKYO, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Japanese camera and medical equipment maker Olympus Corp (7733.T) said on Thursday it would spend 5 billion yen ($44.35 million) to build a digital camera plant in Vietnam by late 2008 to meet growing global demand.

Olympus on Tuesday posted a record operating profit for the financial first half on robust digital camera sales, and raised its annual outlook.

An Olympus spokesman declined to comment on production capacity and specific location of the new plant.

Olympus, the world's fourth-largest digital camera maker behind Canon Inc (7751.T), Sony Corp (6758.T) and Eastman Kodak Co (EK.N), currently operates two digital camera plants in China and one in Japan.

Shares in Olympus were unchanged at 4,580 yen by midday, outperforming the Nikkei average .N225, which fell 2.3 percent. (Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Malcolm Whittaker)