Samsung mulls moving production of TVs, home appliances in response to Trump tariffs: report
Samsung Electronics is considering moving production of some of its TVs and home appliances as it looks to mitigate the impact of tariffs imposed by the Trump administration — even as its core chipmaking business struggles under the weight of American export restrictions targeting China.Samsung did not disclose where the production might be shifted, according to the Japanese news agency Nikkei.Currently, most of the televisions Samsung sells in the US are manufactured in Mexico, though the company also maintains a TV production facility in California.For home appliances like refrigerators and washing machines, Samsung operates plants in both South Carolina and Mexico.The South Korean tech giant revealed the potential relocation on Wednesday as part of its first-quarter earnings report, which showed a sharp decline in semiconductor profits.The company’s device solutions unit, which oversees semiconductors including memory and logic chips, suffered a 62.1% drop in operating profit from the previous quarter, falling to $770 million.Revenue for the segment declined 17% to $17.6 billion.“For the memory business… overall earnings were impacted by the erosion of average selling price, as well as a decrease in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) sales due to export controls on AI chips and deferred demand in anticipation of upcoming enhanced HBM3E products,” Samsung said in a statement.Samsung’s struggles are in large part tied to ongoing US efforts to curb China’s access to advanced semiconductors and manufacturing equipment.China, which accounted for nearly a third of Samsung’s geographic revenue last year, has been directly affected by Washington’s chip control policies — first enacted under Joe Biden and now being continued and expanded by the Trump administration.The company also confirmed it is evaluating supply chain changes for its visual display and digital appliance units as South Korea negotiates with Washington for an exemption to Trump’s 25% “re...