Next stop for electronics sourcing could be Vietnam

Vietnam has low-cost labor, but it won't become a serious option for electronics manufacturing until it resolves its critical infrastructure problems।

By James Carbone -- Purchasing, 5/8/2008

“And it's one, two, three, what are we fighting for? Don't ask me, I don't give a damn। My next stop is Vietnam.” —Country Joe McDonald and the Fish, 1965

For many members of the Woodstock Generation in the 1960s, the last place many wanted to be was Vietnam.
But more than 35 years after the end of the war, some U.S. electronics companies have set up operations there and are building printed circuit boards, printers and other equipment. Other companies have announced plans to set up factories in Vietnam to build computers and components.
As with China, India and Eastern Europe, Vietnam is attracting the interest of U.S. based and other global electronics companies because it offers cheap labor. The average wage of an assembly work in China is about $1 per hour. In Vietnam it is 65-67¢.

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