Samsung has announced that it will no longer manufacture mobile devices in China.
As reported by Reuters, the South Korean vendor said that the decision was not an easy one to make, but that it would lead to greater efficiencies that would allow Samsung to compete more effectively against its increasingly strong Chinese rivals.
In August last year, Samsung shuttered its device factory in Tianjin. Six months after this, its factory in Huizhou was closed down as the vendor felt the heat of domestic competition, particularly Huawei and Xiaomi. According to Counterpoint, Samsung’s Chinese market share fell from 15% in mid-2013 to just 1% in Q1 2019.
Samsung has stated that it will redistribute the production equipment from these facilities to other sites according to requirements. The vendor has already relocated a substantial portion of its device manufacturing to other markets such as India and Vietnam.
The South Korean vendor is not alone in pivoting away from Chinese manufacture; its US-based competitor Apple has informed suppliers that it will begin relocating production to Southeast Asia. Increasing security concerns around China – as well as the ongoing US-China trade war – have made the firm reluctant to remain overly dependent on Chinese labour.
