Samsung moves smartphone production to Vietnam due to coronavirus

Samsung Electronics announced on Friday that it would temporarily move some of its smartphone productions from South Korea to Vietnam, as it has been forced to close its factory in the Asian country.

The company’s spokeswoman said that the group had to suspend its operations at the factory in the Southern city of Gumi in South Korean this morning, as another of its worker tested positive for the Coronavirus.

According to her, the plant in Vietnam, which produces a range of Samsung premium phones such as the S20 and Z Flip foldable phones, will resume production on Saturday.

According to its official statement, the company has taken this move of producing Samsung premium phones in Vietnam, to continue to “supply products to consumers in a more effective, stable and timely manner”.

Since late February to date, a total of six workers have tested positive to the virus at the factory complex in Gumi, close to the city of Daegu – the epicentre of South Korea’s virus outbreak – leading to previous temporary closures at the plant in the last month.

“Once the COVID-19 situation stabilizes, we plan to move back the output to Gumi,” the company assured.

Over the last decade, Samsung Electronics has already moved a large volume of its smartphone production to Vietnam where there has been little production disruption, leaving the Gumi factory to make up for the small portion of its total global output.