“China remains an important market for Samsung and we will continue to provide superior products and services for Chinese consumers,” Samsung’s company statement said.
Samsung later officially confirmed that the plant would halt production and instead focus more on research and development, with the decision partially due to the “ongoing efforts to enhance efficiency across our global production bases.” The company also confirmed that it would provide opportunities to affected employees to transfer to other Samsung facilities.
Samsung closed its last Chinese smartphone factory
Last year Samsung closed the doors on its last smartphone factory in China. It still maintains two semiconductor manufacturing sites in Suzhou and Xi’an. Huizhou Samsung Electronics began smartphone production in 2003 and ended in 2019.
In 2011, the Samsung complex in Huizhou was the South Korean company’s largest Chinese factory. At the time it produced one in five smartphones sold in China. That was when Samsung still ranked No. 1 in China with 20% of the smartphone market.
