Contract electronics manufacturer Wistron Corp plans to purchase land in Vietnam, as the company continues to gradually shift production to Taiwan, India and the Philippines to diversify risk.

The transaction would total 337.4 billion dong (US$14.6 million).

Wistron might build a factory to produce information technology-related products in Vietnam, the Chinese-language United Evening News reported on Wednesday, without citing sources.

The company might initially focus on displays and expand to laptops, the report said.

In response to the US-China trade dispute, Wistron’s chairman said the electronics industry would shift production out of China to mainly Southeast Asia.

Other Taiwanese contract electronics manufacturers — such as Compal Electronics Inc, Quanta Computer Inc, Pegatron Corp, Inventec Corp, and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co — that have plants in China have also been shifting some of their production to Taiwan, India, Southeast Asia and the US to avoid high US tariffs imposed on products made in China.

Compal has completed setting up and expanding capacity in Taiwan and Vietnam to sufficiently meet the demand for notebook shipments to the US.

Quanta has focused on Taiwan and Thailand, and Inventec on Taiwan and Malaysia to diversify their supply chains, Credit Suisse said.

It’s clear, however, from the following chart that a mass exodus out of China is unlikely given that the smaller countries are not scaleable.

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