As part of Microsoft’s restructuring plans for its Nokia operations, the company is planning to move the bulk of phone production from China to Vietnam, according to ZDNet.
The restructuring process began in earnest last Thursday when Microsoft announced that it will lay off 18,000 employees by 2015, many of whom are Chinese factory workers.
Though industry experts such as Larry Dignan, editor in chief of ZDNet, point to cheaper labor costs as the main reason for setting up shop in Vietnam (Dignan said that “A factory worker in Hanoi makes $145 a month compared to $466 in Beijing”), Executive Vice President of Microsoft's Devices & Services business unit, Stephen Elop, didn’t mention it when explaining to move.
“We’ll focus on acquiring new customers in the markets where Microsoft’s services and products are most concentrated,” he said.
With major production bases for Samsung, Intel, LG and now Nokia, it looks like Vietnam is well on its way to attaining its goal of having 30 percent of its industrial product deriving from high-tech.
[ZD Net]
