Samsung opens "world's largest mobile factory" in India

Steven Loeb · July 9, 2018 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/4bc6

The new facility will allow Samsung to nearly double mobile phone production by 2020

India is a country that has long represented a huge opportunity for tech companies, thanks to it having the second largest number of Internet users in the world, behind only China; that number is expected to hit 500 million this year. Facebook has more users in the country than in the United States, and India is Uber's largest market outside of the U.S. It's a country whose market simply cannot be ignored. 

It's not only software companies that are seeing a huge opportunity, but hardware manufacturers as well. According to the International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report from May of this year, the India smartphone market started 2018 with 30 million units shipped in the first quarter, making it the strongest start of any year so far. 

Samsung is especially interested in the Indian market and, on Monday, the company announced the opening of a new mobile phone manufacturing facility in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. The company is calling the new 129,000 square meter facility, "The World’s Largest Mobile Factory."

With the new factory, which was inaugurated by Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, Samsung says that it will be able to nearly double its production, from 68 million units a year to 120 million units a year. Samsung expects this to be done by 2020. 

This is part of Samsung's "Make in India" initiative, which began all the way back in 1995; the factory in Noida was established in 1996 and it began producing mobile phones in 2007. The factory currently manufacturers all Samsung mobile phones, including the Galaxy S9, S9+ and Galaxy Note8.

In 2015, Samsung announced its "Make for India" initiative, in which it began incorporating feedback from Indian consumers into its products. On Monday, Samsung India announced the launch of yet another initiative, this one called "Make for the World," through which it aims to export mobile handsets that are produced in India to overseas markets.

“Our Noida factory, the world’s largest mobile factory, is a symbol of Samsung’s strong commitment to India, and a shining example of the success of the Government’s ‘Make in India’ programme. Samsung is a long-term partner of India. We ‘Make in India’, ‘Make for India’ and now, we will ‘Make for the World’. We are aligned with Government policies and will continue to seek their support to achieve our dream of making India a global export hub for mobile phones,” Mr. HC Hong, Chief Executive Officer, Samsung India, said in a statement.

Samsung currently has a 10.4 percent mobile phone market share in India, second only to Xiaomi's 38.4 percent share. 

VatorNews has reached out to Samsung for further comment. We will update this story if we learn more. 

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