Samsung denies moving part of Vietnam smartphone production to India

Samsung has rebutted reports it plans to shift part of its smartphone production in Vietnam to India, saying the former will continue to be the group’s major manufacturing base.

Samsung Vietnam said in a statement that its smartphone manufacturing factories in the northern provinces of Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen are operating as usual.

Vietnam will always be Samsung’s important production base in the world, it stated on Tuesday, adding that reports on the shift to India are “unfounded.”

The statement came after India’s Economic Times on August 17 reported that Samsung “may shift a major part of its smartphone production to India from Vietnam and other countries,” citing sources.

The report said the South Korean conglomerate had submitted estimates of making smartphones worth over $40 billion in the next five years to the Indian government.

“Samsung is likely to diversify its production lines for making smartphones to India under the PLI (Production Linked Incentive) scheme and this will have an impact in its existing capabilities across various countries like Vietnam,” the English-language daily quoted a source “familiar with the matter” as saying.

About half of Samsung’s smartphones are produced in Vietnam, where it has invested over $17 billion so far. Its first plant in the country was built in 2008.