Google is in the process of moving its Pixel smartphone production from China to Vietnam. This move is in response to rising manufacturing costs in the country and the potential of tariffs on Chinese goods. Google is said to be starting with the Pixel 3A and hopes to move production to Vietnam before the end of the year. The Pixel 4 will likely still be produced in China, at least to start.
The factory that Google will be using in Vietnam was an old Nokia factory in the northern region of the country. According to the report, Google is aiming to double its smartphone production this year to up to 10 million units. And moving production out of China will allow them to avoid raising prices on its phones (though there’s no guarantee they won’t anyway).
The report goes on to say that Google plans to eventually move production of most of its US-bound hardware outside of China. This would include Google Nest products as well as Pixel smartphones. Production of smart speakers could be moved to Thailand, but as with the Pixel 4, new devices are still likely to be produced in China for now.
“Google are likely to keep some activities inside China. The U.S. company knows that if it is going to be serious about making hardware, it could never give up the massive Chinese market. However, they also understand that, due to rising costs and the macro-environment, they need to have production outside China for the long term in order to support their hardware manufacturing.”
Source: Nikkei Asian Review
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