November 22, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics is reviewing plans to build a home appliance plant in the US, in response to US President-elect Donald Trump’s protectionist policies, the tech firm said on Jan.9.

“It is true we are considering the establishment of an appliance factory in the US. It is natural that an enterprise responds accordingly when a client nation’s policy changes,” a Samsung Electronics official told The Korea Herald. “Nothing has been confirmed yet.” 

North America is currently Samsung’s largest home appliance market. Samsung is gaining around 30 percent sales of total appliances from US consumers, selling high-end products such as Family Hub refrigerators and premium quantum dot light-emitting diode TVs.

The Korean tech firm has so far been using its Mexico plants as a base to ship to the US, capitalizing on lower labor costs, no tariffs and geographical benefits. It has a plant in Tijuana, which produces televisions and monitors, and a factory in Queretaro making refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners.

Samsung Electronics gained the largest 18.8 percent share in the US home appliance market in the third quarter of last year, according to US market research firm Traqline. The firm has been promoting its premium appliance lineups by setting up Samsung Open House events at 300 stores of US consumer electronics retailer Best Buy since May last year.

Samsung’s local rival LG Electronics also recently hinted at the possibility of building a plant in the US. The firm’s newly appointed CEO Jo Seong-jin said at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week that it would finalize the possibility of building a new plant in the US within the first half of this year.

By Shin Ji-hye/The Korea Herald (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)