Samsung Electronics will reportedly halt operations of its TV factory in Tianjin, China, according to local media Ijiwei.
The factory will halt operations in late November, the report said. Samsung was discussing compensation with employees and is planning to sell the factory to local OEMs.
Samsung has three production line at the factory and employees 623 people there.
The company sold only around a million TVs in China last year and has a market share of around 2% there.
Samsung has been decreasing the production capacity and employees it hires for the past three years at the Tianjin factory.
The company uses contract makers BOE VT, KTC and Ruixuan for most of its low-tier TV production aimed at China.
South Korean OEM Hansol Technics will also be contract making Samsung TVs in Vietnam going forward.
Tianjin factory also produced Samsung’s premium TV brand QLED TVs. Ijiwei said the local OEM that buys the factory will also be able to produce the high-end TVs for Samsung.
Ruixuan was showing interest in acquiring the factory, the report said. Executives of the company visited Samsung’s South Korean headquarters twice so far.
Samsung was also hoping for an OEM to buy the factory rather than companies such as Foxconn, Innolux, TCL, SCBC and TPV that have their own TV brands.
Besides its Tianjin factory, its sole factory in China, Samsung has factories in Mexico, Czech, Hungary and Vietnam.
Samsung has halted smartphone production at Tianjin in 2018. In 2019, it halted smartphone production at its factory in Huizhou. Last month, Samsung Display sold its factory at Suzhou to CSOT.
Samsung now has a home appliance factory in Suzhou and a semiconductor factory in Xi’an.
