Samsung opens world's largest smartphone factory in India

Samsung is setting up shop in India in a big way.

The South Korean tech giant said Monday that it's opening the world's largest phone factory in Noida, near the outskirts of New Delhi. The company is hoping to tap into the lower manufacturing costs there as it pushes its presence in the fastest-growing mobile phone market, according to Reuters.

Samsung expects to double its current capacity for smartphone production in Noida from 68 million units annually to 120 million units in 2020, according to the company's release. 

The facility is expected to help Samsung build more cheap phones to make gains in India, a market dominated by the likes of Xiaomi and Lenovo's Motorola unit.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi were in attendance for the opening ceremony of the facility. (See it here.)

"Samsung is a long-term partner of India. We 'Make in India', 'Make for India' and now, we will 'Make for the World'," said HC Hong, CEO of Samsung India, in the release. "We are aligned with Government policies and will continue to seek their support to achieve our dream of making India a global export hub for mobile phones."

First published July 9 at 6:57 a.m. PT.
Update, 10:45 a.m. PT: Adds comments from Samsung and Samsung India CEO HC Hong.

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