Samsung to shift some smartphone production from Vietnam to India

It’s been almost three years since Samsung opened its Noida plant , which is also the world’s largest phone maker. This year, the electronics giant moved display production from China to Noida , Uttar Pradesh, India. The company appears to be more focused on India and already has plans to restructure its entire global smartphone manufacturing business. According to the latest report According to South Korean media, Samsung is now planning to move part of its smartphone production to India and Indonesia next year. Samsung currently has two smartphone factories in Vietnam in Bac Ninh (SEV) and Thai Nguyen (SEVT) provinces, and these two divisions combined can produce 182 million units of smartphones per year, which is again 61% from the total production. Total smartphones manufactured by Samsung.

The company aims to increase production capacity at seven manufacturing sites, including South Korea and other countries. As part of the plan, Samsung will shift production of 19 million devices out of 182 million to India and Indonesia as the company plans to expand its manufacturing capacity in those regions. When Samsung moves some of its smartphone production to India and Indonesia, Vietnam will still be the country that produces 50% of its smartphones.

Samsung plan for 2022; Image Credit: Elec Inc.

By 2022, Samsung is said to be expanding production capacity at its plant in India to 93 million units per year, currently producing 60 million units per year. The plant in Indonesia will also nearly double its production capacity from 10 million units to 18 million. Vietnam accounts for 60% of smartphone production, India for 20% and Indonesia for 4%. When the smartphone manufacturing restructuring is completed, Vietnam will still manage half of Samsung’s smartphone production, while India will account for 29% and Indonesia for 6%.

According to Korean media, Samsung is making this change due to increased labor costs in Vietnam, which is affecting the company, and COVID-19 has also caused problems for Samsung this year as the company had to close its factories in Vietnam earlier this year.