LG Electronics to move Korean smartphone production to Vietnam

By Kim Eun-jung

SEOUL, April 24 (Yonhap) -- LG Electronics Inc. plans to relocate its Korean smartphone production line to Vietnam in a bid to cut costs for its money-losing mobile business, industry sources said Wednesday.

The South Korean tech firm will phase out its Pyeongtaek factory, south of Seoul, by the end of this year, getting ready to shift the production line to Hai Phong, a northern Vietnamese city where other LG affiliates operate factories.

"As LG Electronics has continued to lose money from its smartphone business, it decided to move its Korean plant to Vietnam to reduce manufacturing costs," an industry source familiar with the issue said.

LG Electronics currently manufactures smartphones in South Korea, Vietnam, Brazil and China, with its local factory mainly producing premium devices.

LG has struggled in the smartphone market for years as it has been sandwiched between Samsung Electronics and Apple in the high-end market and Chinese manufacturers in the lower-end segment.

The mobile division has been posting losses since the second quarter of 2017.

The mobile division's annual sales reached 1.7 trillion won (US$1.5 billion) last year but posted an operating deficit of 322.2 billion won due to weak sales of smartphones and increased marketing costs.

ejkim@yna.co.kr
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