In light of the US China trade war, US tech giants have been looking at alternative manufacturing centers outside of China to reduce dependency on the country. Earlier, we had reported that Apple is looking to move production of its hardware to Vietnam, and now, reports are coming out that Google is shifting the manufacturing of its Pixel smartphones outside China and to Vietnam instead.
In a report from Nikkei Asian Review citing sources familiar with the company’s plans, it said that Google is planning on shifting manufacturing to Vietnam in order to create a low-cost supply chain in South-east Asia for its growing hardware ambitions. The company has reportedly started work to convert an old Nokia manufacturing plant in Bac Ninh to make it ready for producing Pixel hardware.
Eventually, the Mountain View giant intends to move production of both its Pixel smartphones, and the Google Home smart speaker out of China and in to Vietnam. The company aims to ship around 8 to 10 million Pixel smartphones this year — a number double of what it shipped last year — and the Vietnam manufacturing plant is expected to play a major role in the company’s plans.
Currently, Google plans on moving production of its mid-range Pixel 3A to Vietnam by the end of this year.
