Samsung Elec moves some smartphone lines from Vietnam to Korea

Samsung Group heir Jay Y. Lee visits a Samsung smartphone plant in Hanoi, Vietnam on Oct. 2020. [Photo provided by Samsung Electronics Co.]

Samsung Electronics Co. has brought some smartphone assembly lines in Vietnam to Korea, but denied it to be a reshoring process.

The South Korean electronics giant said Wednesday it moved two smartphone parts production lines from its manufacturing partner’s plant near Hanoi in Vietnam to Gumi, industrial town in southern Korea, over August to September last year.

The lines were transferred to replace old lines at its partner’s factory in Gumi to meet rising local demand for foldable models, stressing that it was not reshoring of smartphone production, said a Samsung Electronics official. The measure should not be regarded as permanent as production faculties are always replaced when new products are launched, added the official.

[Source: Counterpoint Research]

The Korean smartphone giant has been experiencing hiccups in production at its Vietnam responsible for half of its global smartphone shipments due to the country’s prolonged Covid-19 lock-down measures.

Its Gumi manufacturing base in Korea is the only smartphone line on home turf. It produces high-end handsets, such as foldable models and Galaxy S series, for Korean market.

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