Samsung Electronics Vietnam has said the rumors saying North Korea could replace Vietnam as Samsung's main production center for smartphones and displays are “personal speculation”.
Workers at a Samsung smartphone factory in northern Vietnam. Photo: VNA
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Nikkei also cited analysts as saying the Kaesong complex is attractive to South Korean companies because of its low rent, cheap labor costs and a large pool of able workers who speak the same language as their counterparts in the South.
According to Hana Financial Investment, a South Korean brokerage, minimum monthly wages for factory workers in the complex in 2014 were just $63.8, lower than $95.8 in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City and $194 in China’s Qingdao. In South Korea's Ansan, the figure was more than $800.
“North Korea could draw investments from the international community and South Korea in the long-term, if it benchmarks Vietnam's success model,” You Seung-min said.
In response to Hanoitimes’ request for comment, a spokesperson of Samsung Vietnam Complex said the company “does not comment on rumors and personal speculation.”
Samsung Securities is just a subsidiary of South Korean conglomerate Samsung Group and is independent of Samsung Electronics. In addition, You Seung-min is an economist at Samsung Securities and is not authorized to speak on Samsung Electronics’ investment plans.
Samsung has invested a total of US$17.36 billion in Vietnam over the past decade, and is employing over 160,000 workers, 400 times its workforce in the Southeast Asian country in 2008.
Samsung Electronics has some 110,000 employees in its two complexes in Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen provinces in North Vietnam, accounting for one third of the giant’s workforce globally. These two factories are producing more than a half of smartphones and tables manufactured by Samsung Electronics worldwide.
Samsung shipped US$54.4 billion worth of “Made-in-Vietnam” products last year, making one fourth of the country’s total export turnover, and the exports are set to reach US$58 billion this year.
