South China Morning Post
Advertisement
Advertisement
Samsung Electronics
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
Samsung said operations at its last factory in China ended last month. Photo: Reuters
ChinaMoney & Wealth

South Korea’s Samsung closes its last smartphone factory in China

  • ‘Difficult decision to cease operations’ at plant in Huizhou taken to ‘enhance efficiency’, company says
  • Firm’s market share in China has dwindled to near insignificance as competitors like Huawei and Xiaomi have taken upper hand
Samsung Electronics
Associated Press
Associated Press
Why you can trust SCMP
Samsung Electronics said on Friday it has ended the production of smartphones in its last factory in China.
Operations at the plant in the south China city of Huizhou, Guangdong province, ended last month, it said in an email.

The company made “the difficult decision to cease operations of Samsung Electronics Huizhou” in order “to enhance efficiency” in its manufacturing, it said.

Samsung’s market share in China has dwindled to near insignificance as competitors like Huawei and Xiaomi have taken the upper hand. It once had 15 per cent of China’s smartphone market.
Samsung once had a 15 per cent share of China’s smartphone market. Photo: AFP
The South Korean giant has moved a large share of its smartphone production to Vietnam and closed a factory in northeastern China’s Tianjin last year.

“The production equipment will be reallocated to other global manufacturing sites depending on our global production strategy based on market needs,” the statement said.

Samsung is the world’s biggest manufacturer of semiconductors and smartphones and a major producer of display screens. But the flagship of South Korea’s largest conglomerate is currently weathering a spell of slack demand for computer chips.

Like other South Korean electronics makers, it also is facing the impact of tightened Japanese controls on exports of hi-tech materials used in semiconductors and displays.

On Wednesday, Sony said it was closing its Beijing smartphone plant and would only make smartphones in Thailand.

But Apple still makes major products in China.

“In China, people buy low-priced smartphones from domestic brands and high-end phones from Apple or Huawei,” Park Sung-soon, an analyst at Cape Investment & Securities, said.

“Samsung has little hope there to revive its share.”

Samsung’s factory in Huizhou was built in 1992, according to the company. South Korean media said it employed 6,000 workers and produced 63 million units in 2017.

Samsung manufactured 394 million handsets around the world in 2107, according to its annual report.

Additional reporting by Reuters

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Samsung shuts last mainland smartphone factory
Post