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Samsung makes phones in Vietnam because the country has become a long-established production and export base for the company. Samsung has invested in phone factories in Bắc Ninh and Thai Nguyen, while Vietnam’s supplier network and role in global manufacturing have grown. The evidence supports that explanation; it does not establish a single original motive such as low labor costs or tariff avoidance.

How Samsung phone production in Vietnam grew

Samsung’s Vietnam presence began before its phone plants. The company says it opened a television factory in Ho Chi Minh City in 1995, then invested in phone manufacturing in Bắc Ninh in 2008. Its phone production there began in April 2009, according to Vietnam Government News. Samsung later expanded phone manufacturing to Thai Nguyen, where the facility began operating in 2014.

Output milestones illustrate how established the operations have become, but they measure cumulative production, not an annual rate:

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These figures apply to different scopes: one is for the Thai Nguyen factory alone; the other combines Samsung’s two phone factories in Bắc Ninh and Thai Nguyen.

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Why Vietnam is useful to Samsung

An established manufacturing base

Years of factory operation and large cumulative handset output show that Vietnam is not merely a new or occasional assembly location for Samsung. It is reasonable to infer that existing facilities, trained workers and operating experience make continued production practical. Samsung’s public descriptions do not, however, rank the factors behind its original site-selection decision.

Export capacity

Samsung reported that its Vietnam exports reached $54.4 billion in 2024. In a 2021 business-results statement, the company said phones made in Vietnam were exported to 128 countries and territories. The export figure is for 2024; the 128-destination claim is historical and company-reported, not a current count. Samsung’s 2025 company profile and export figure; Samsung’s 2021 business-results statement.

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Long-term investment and operating continuity

Samsung reported that its total investment in Vietnam reached $23.2 billion by the end of 2024. That is a company-reported cumulative investment figure, not an independent explanation of why each factory was located there. In 2021, Samsung Vietnam CEO Choi Joo Ho said the company continued investing to stabilize factory operations and improve productivity and product quality. Samsung’s 2025 account of its 30 years in Vietnam; Samsung’s 2021 statement.

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A developing local supplier network

Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade says 63 companies supported through its work with Samsung became Tier-1 or Tier-2 suppliers in Samsung’s global manufacturing chain. That demonstrates supplier development and participation. It does not tell us what share of a Samsung phone’s components or value is sourced from Vietnam. Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade on supplier development.

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Vietnam’s wider role in global manufacturing

Samsung’s investment sits within a broader economic trend. The OECD’s 2025 Vietnam survey discusses the country’s growing trade and manufacturing role and notes that companies have diversified production locations in response to US tariff barriers. That context helps explain why Vietnam can be strategically useful as a production base, but it is not proof that tariffs were Samsung’s sole—or original—reason for manufacturing phones there. OECD Economic Surveys: Viet Nam 2025.

Lower labor costs, proximity to suppliers, trade agreements, infrastructure and government support are often discussed as factors in manufacturing-location decisions. The cited Samsung sources do not identify these as a ranked list of Samsung’s specific motives, so they should not be presented as the confirmed reason it chose Vietnam.

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What the production figures do—and do not—show

  • Six factories does not mean six phone factories. Samsung says it has six factories across Vietnam, as well as an R&D center and a sales entity. The six-factory figure covers the company’s broader Vietnam footprint; it is not a count of phone plants. Samsung’s company profile.
  • Smart devices are not all phones. Samsung reported that more than 2.35 billion smart devices had been produced in Vietnam by 2025. This broader company-reported category includes products beyond phones and should not be confused with the two-billion handset milestone from the Bắc Ninh and Thai Nguyen phone factories. Samsung’s 2025 anniversary account; Vietnam Government News’ handset milestone.
  • A past global share is not a current estimate. Samsung Vietnam said in 2023 that more than 50% of Samsung phones sold worldwide were made in Vietnam. That is a dated company statement, not a verified estimate of the share in 2026. Samsung’s 2023 statement.
  • Factory locations do not establish where every model is made. The available figures do not identify the current model-by-model or facility-by-facility production mix. The Galaxy S24 Ultra was the milestone phone at Thai Nguyen in April 2024, but that does not establish where every S24 Ultra—or every Samsung phone—was manufactured.
  • Manufacture in Vietnam does not establish a quality difference. The location figures describe production and investment, not comparative quality testing. They are not evidence that a Vietnam-made handset is better or worse than the same model made elsewhere.

What is not established

The public information cited here does not provide Samsung’s complete site-selection model, a current share of worldwide Samsung phone output made in Vietnam, a current production mix by phone model and factory, the Vietnamese-content percentage of an average handset, or a causal breakdown of production costs. Those gaps limit how specifically the motives or sourcing of any individual phone can be described.

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