One senior employee at LG Electronics said on August 13th: "By the end of this year, the laptop production line in Korea will be closed and all the production facilities will move to Kunsan, China. We started gradual relocation from 2005, and it will be completed by the end of this year."
With the relocation there will be no laptops made in Korea. Samsung Electronics already relocated their laptop production lines to Suzhou, China in 2005, and Sambo Computer produces all the products in China except some Everatec models produced in Ansan, Korea.
Last year, LG Electronics produced a total of 700,000 units of laptops in both Korea and China, half of which was produced in Pyeongtaek, Korea. The employee added that domestic production has decreased year by year. With the relocation, there will be R&D, marketing and production planning units in Korea.
The PC production in the Pyeongtaek plant increased from 780,000 in 2002 to 1.92 million in 2003. But since LG Electronics was separated from IBM in 2005, now the production stands at 440,000 units. The production in the Kunsan plant is 250,000, all of which is sold in China.
The Pyeongtaek plant produces PC, VTR, DVD, optical storage and others, except mobile phones, with 2,800 employees including 600 engaged in PC production.
Kunsan, China is a place where more than 80% of global laptops are produced by Dell and HP, and where it is very convenient to purchase parts as many major parts makers are located.
