Xiaomi has started manufacturing of smartphones in Vietnam in the province of Thai Nguyen. It partnered with DBG Technology for the production here. The facility, in addition to catering to the domestic market would also be exporting to other South-East Asian markets. Vietnam was the third largest handset manufacturing destination globally in 2021, per our latest research available here. Xiaomi have had strong manufacturing bases in China but with intermittent COVID-19 resurgence supply chain stood disrupted.  

These disruptions have adversely impacted Xiaomi in many of its focus markets. It was the third largest smartphone vendor globally in Q1 2022 and witnessed an annual decline of -20% in the quarter. Xiaomi went on to record the lowest volumes in its last seven quarter of operations. South -East Asia has been a key sub region for the vendor in Asia pacific. Here too, in key markets it is up against a renewed Samsung and a strong Chinese competition. Detailed volume and market shares estimates by vendors for all the key countries of this sub region are available here, from our Smartphone Country Share Tracker (SCST) Service.

Xiaomi’s consolidated volumes share has been on a steady decline in the South -East Asian sub region and at 9% hit the lowest of the past five quarters. While the consolidated smartphone volumes in South-East Asia declined by -17% annually, Xiaomi’s decline in the sub region was 2X of that.

Would opening up new manufacturing bases and ensuring uninterrupted supply be enough for Xiaomi to turn around in South-East Asia?

What more Xiaomi needs to do? Which all individual markets of South-East Asia the vendor needs to prioritize?