Electronics maker Wistron set for Vietnam expansion

Apple supplier Wistron is joining a global electronics manufacturing wave of expanding production in Vietnam after quitting its iPhone production in India.

Both Foxconn and Pegatron, major suppliers for Apple, have manufacturing facilities in Vietnam. Foxconn is investing a fresh $100 million in the central province of Nghe An, planning to start construction of a new 48-hectare production site in WHA Industrial Zone 1 this June. The Taiwanese giant will perform trial runs between July and October 2024, and then enter official operation in November 2024, according to the project’s investment certificate.

Wistron is selling its iPhone assembly facility in Kolar near Bengaluru, to the Tata Group. According to a report by Indian newspaper Business Standard, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran met Apple CEO Tim Cook in Mumbai on April 17 and discussed the group’s plans to make and sell Apple products in India. Tata Son is the parent company of the Tata Group, which is presently conducting trials to assemble forthcoming iPhone 15 models in India.

Taiwan-based Wistron has so far invested about $300 million in Vietnam and operates only one facility in Ha Nam province, about 50 kilometers south of Hanoi. Wistron Infocomm Vietnam manufactures displays, computer peripherals and devices, but this Wistron subsidiary is not yet an Apple supplier.

Wistron Infocomm Vietnam is located in Dong Van III Industrial Park. In July 2022, the plant received a priority enterprise certificate issued by Vietnam’s General Department of Customs.

The certificate gives the company priority for customs procedures, inspections and supervision for exported and imported goods. Wistron Infocomm Vietnam was the first firm in Ha Nam province to obtain the certificate.

In Nam Dinh, also in northern Vietnam, Apple supplier Quanta Computer received an investment certificate earlier this May to build a $120 million factory in the province as its first plant in Vietnam and its ninth worldwide.

The 22.5-hectare facility in My Thuan Industrial Park is set to manufacture 1.3 million laptop and desktop computers in 2024, 2.6 million in 2025, 3.6 million in 2026, four million in 2027, and 4.5 million in 2028.

Vietnam is already a production base for international electronics makers. Samsung has so far invested about $20 billion in the country and is about to add more. Meanwhile, the investment of its Korean peer LG in Vietnam is about $7.5 billion.