U.S. supplier American Axle & Manufacturing is lining up new customers in China in a bid to reduce dependence on General Motors and Chrysler.

A joint-venture manufacturing operation set up last year -- Hefei Automobile Axle Co. -- has lined up contracts to supply several domestic Chinese automakers, said Steven Proctor, president of American Axle Asia.

American Axle ships parts to Chery Automobile Co., Zhejiang Geely Automobile Co. and Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co. (JAC), which owns Hefei.

"China and Asia are critical to our future growth goals," said Proctor in an interview with Automotive News China.  "Building Asia is high priority."

American Axle currently operates two factories in China. Its joint venture began production in February 2009 and currently employs 300 workers. That plant makes suspension modules for Chery's forthcoming P11 SUV, rear axles for a new SUV being developed by Geely, and parts for JAC's Rein SUV and Refine van. 

The factory also will supply SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co., which produces low-priced minibuses.

American Axle also has increased production capacity at its other Chinese plant, a wholly owned factory in the city of Changshu in Jiangsu province, built in 2006. This factory supplies Volkswagen AG. 

While American Axle does not publish separate revenue data for China, it appears that the China operation is aiding the company's recovery. Last year, global sales totaled $1.5 billion (10.2 billion yuan), down from $2.1 billion in 2008.

But in the first quarter, global revenues totaled $522 million, up 30 percent from a year earlier.