Samsung is looking to shift a part of its smartphone and electronics production from Vietnam to India, a report says. The South Korean conglomerate's reports of huge plans follow steep tariffs planned by the Trump administration on Vietnam products. As the Trump government has suggested imposing a 46 percent tariff on imports from Vietnam, India will have to endure a relatively lesser 26 percent duty and has been granted a 90-day reprieve on retaliatory tariffs, leaving China out.
For those who don't know, Vietnam is now Samsung's main global production base, making about 60 percent of the 220 million smartphones the company produces every year. The country shipped more than $52 billion in mobile phones and parts for Samsung in FY2024, accounting for 9 percent of its total trade. But with rising trade tensions and the temptation of a more favorable geopolitical and tariff environment, Samsung is reconsidering this heavy dependence.
Samsung has begun negotiations with Indian contract manufacturers like Bhagwati (Micromax) and Dixon Technologies, both of whom are current partners, according to sources. The company is said to be mulling the use of its Uttar Pradesh and Chennai plants, as well as outsourcing to Indian EMS companies, to produce not just smartphones but also TVs and home appliances for export to markets such as the US.
Samsung already produces most of its products locally in India but has diversified production through partners such as Dixon and foreign ODMs such as Huaqin and Longcheer, the latter of which already collaborates with Dixon to make Samsung-branded phones. Interestingly, Huaqin recently made its entry into India through a joint venture with Micromax, working out of Vivo's facilities, and is now negotiating to include Samsung in its production list.
Samsung's considerations are a reflection of a larger tendency. Last week, it reported that Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, is also in talks with Foxconn and Dixon to move part of Pixel phone manufacturing out of Vietnam into India. Apple has also notably increased domestic manufacturing in the last few years on the strength of the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme of the Indian government.