almost Made in Vietnam .. and Made in Vietnam exported to global too ..
Samsung moves factories from China to Vietnam
BOTTOM LINE:To protect profits as labor costs rise in China, the firm is looking to Vietnam, with one analyst saying it may make 80% of its phones there some day
Bloomberg
Samsung Electronics Co built the world’s largest smartphone business by tapping China’s cheap and abundant workforce, but is now shifting output to Vietnam to secure even lower wages and defend profit margins as growth in sales of high-end handsets slows.
By the time a new US$2 billion plant reaches full production in 2015, China’s communist neighbor will be making more than 40 percent of the phones that generate the majority of Samsung’s operating profit.
The Suwon, South Korea-based company’s second handset factory in Vietnam is due to begin operations in February, according to a Nov. 22 statement posted on the Web site of the local government where the plant is located.
“The trend of companies shifting to Vietnam from China will likely accelerate for at least two to three years, largely because of China’s higher labor costs,” said Lee Jung-soon, who leads a business incubation team of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency in Ho Chi Minh City. “Vietnam is really aggressive in fostering industries now.”
Hanoi has approved US$13.8 billion of new foreign projects this year through Nov. 20, a 73 percent increase on a year earlier, according to the General Statistics Office in Hanoi. Of this, South Korea led with US$3.66 billion.
Intel Corp, the world’s largest chipmaker, opened a US$1 billion assembly and testing plant in Ho Chi Minh City in 2010. Nokia Oyj said its facility near Hanoi producing Asha smartphones and feature handsets became fully operational in the third quarter.
LG Electronics Inc is building a new 400,000m2 complex to make televisions and appliances as part of a US$1.5 billion investment plan.
“The country is politically stable and has a young, increasingly well-educated workforce,” LG said in an e-mailed statement. “Like [South] Korea, Vietnam understands what it takes to rebuild an economy after a devastating war.”
Samsung’s new plant is expected to make 120 million handsets a year by 2015, said two people familiar with the company’s plans, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. That would double the current output from the country and compares with the 400 million global total Samsung shipped last year.
With about one-third of the global smartphone market, Samsung may eventually produce as many as 80 percent of its handsets in Vietnam, said Lee Seung-woo, an analyst at IBK Securities Co in Seoul who has been tracking the company for more than a decade.