Samsung Plant Catches Fire; Production Units Intact

| Published: Monday, March 9, 2020, 15:01 [IST]

Amidst coronavirus scare, many smartphone and tech manufacturers are shifting their production units out of China to other countries like Vietnam. While Samsung has most of its base in its homeland South Korea, it has another issue to deal with. The Samsung chip plant in Hwaseong, South of Seoul had witnessed a fire accident on Sunday night (March 8).

Samsung Plant On Fire

Late night on March 8, a fire broke out at Samsung's chip plant, situated south of Seoul. The fire extinguishers were rushed to the plant to put out the fire. The authorities said that the fire at the facility was completely extinguished by early Monday (March 9) morning. Samsung said that the fire won't affect the functioning of the fire.

Cause of Fire At Samsung Plant

Going further into the details, Samsung said that the fire broke out at the plant at 11:18 PM on Sunday. The fire was completely exhausted in two-and-a-half hours, in the wee hours of Monday. A South-Korean report notes that there were no casualties in the fire and further notes that the production at the planet has not been affected.

Samsung notes that the origin of the fire began at the wastewater processing facility, situated away from the production lines. The wastewater facility is an automated unit and keeps processing throughout the day. For now, the exact cause of the fire remains unknown. Samsung said that it will fully cooperate with the authorities to determine the exact cause of the fire accident.

Samsung Shifting Unit To Vietnam

The accident is more concerning because it's clashed with the ongoing coronavirus battle. Already Samsung has confirmed multiple cases of people affected with the COVID-19 virus at the factory. Following Google and Microsoft's footsteps, Samsung is also chalking plans to shift its production unit to Vietnam.

So far, Samsung has confirmed six cases within its production unit in South Korea, a concern for the company. Amidst the COVID-19 outbreak, Samsung working on scaling the smartphone and other production operations. It has tightened the screening procedure at the plant in its home base. However, the company could temporarily move to Vietnam as a better solution to make the most out of the diminishing smartphone demand.