April 19, 2024

• 

Samsung Electronics’ Vietnam business suffered a decline in profit last year due to tepid smartphone demand and toughening competition from Chinese rivals, its financial statement showed on March 14.

The firm’s four subsidiaries in Vietnam posted a combined operating profit of $4.7 billion in 2018, down 20 percent from a year earlier, its consolidated statement showed. 

The combined profit of the subsidiaries in the fourth quarter reached $100 million, much smaller than the previous record low of $500 million tallied in the third quarter of 2016 following the Galaxy Note 7 battery overheating fiasco.

Vietnam is the key production hub of the world’s largest smartphone maker, with about half of its smartphones and tablets being produced in the Southeast Asian nation, according to the company.

By Ram Garikipati and newswires (ram@heraldcorp.com)