South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics is taking the consequences of the recent slowdown in smartphone demand, according to employees, and is cutting production at its smartphone factory in Vietnam. “We will only be working three days a week and overtime is no longer necessary,” says an employee who has worked for five years at the factory in the northern city of Thai Nguyen and says she has never experienced anything like it.
Some tires only ran for four days instead of six days. Thai Nguyen is one of two Samsung smartphone factories in Vietnam, which the company says can produce 100 million devices annually. Last year, Samsung shipped around 270 million smartphones worldwide. About half of this is produced in Vietnam – a country in which Samsung has invested about $16 billion (currently about $16 billion) and where the company is responsible for about a fifth of all exports.
The smartphone market leader – see infographic – is also why the city of Thai Nguyen, 65 kilometers from the capital Hanoi, has developed into an industrial stronghold, attracting tens of thousands of young workers. They now fear for their future and their jobs. “My salary was halved last month,” says the employee.
Even during the corona crisis, there was more going on
According to her, there was even more going on during the corona crisis. Other employees echoed her opinion. Managers would have justified the measures against them with the full warehouses and weakening orders. It was initially unknown whether Samsung moved Thai Nguyen’s production to other factories. The technology group from Seoul also produces in South Korea and India.
Samsung told Reuters that reducing annual production in Vietnam is not an issue. Like the American iPhone group Apple, Samsung is relatively optimistic about the demand for smartphones in the second half of the year. When the quarterly report was published last week, Samsung stated that the supply bottlenecks had largely been resolved and that demand had stagnated or even increased slightly. The South Koreans mainly rely on foldable smartphones.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
