Smartphone manufacturers have faced several challenges in China over the previous year and are searching for alternate supply chain and production methods. Companies like Xiaomi, Samsung and Apple have shifted production to Vietnam to boost production amid ongoing supply chain issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Xiaomi’s plant has reportedly produced its first batch of handsets, which will be exported to countries like Malaysia and Thailand.
According to a report by Global Times, the first batch of smartphones produced at Xiaomi’s new production plant in Vietnam has already been delivered. The company has now shifted its attention to Vietnam.
The new building, which is 200,000 square metres in size and represents an investment of $80 million (roughly Rs. 634 crore), is situated in North Vietnam. The production is trusted to DBG Technology, situated in Hong Kong.
The objective of Xiaomi is to use its new plant in Vietnam as a centre for exports into nearby Southeast Asian nations like Malaysia and Thailand. With a market share of 22 percent in Vietnam, Xiaomi is only surpassed by Samsung (34 percent), as reported by GSM Arena.
Other Xiaomi manufacturing facilities are situated in China and India.
Xiaomi is not the only company looking to boost production outside of China. Last month, Apple began moving some iPad production to Vietnam due to ongoing supply chain disruptions — the first time that the Cupertino company shifted manufacturing of its iPad models out of China. One of the major reasons for Apple to move its iPad manufacturing to Vietnam is to overcome the restrictions that emerged due to strict COVID-19 lockdowns in Shanghai and other cities of the country.
Over the past decade, South Korean smartphone giant Samsung has already shifted much of its smartphone production to Vietnam, where it makes over 50 percent of its phones and has so far seen little production disruption. Its Gumi factory in South Korea — which was briefly shut down during the pandemic in 2020 — makes up for a small portion of its total output.