For Samsung it has been a long haul — starting from 2009 when the Korean major decided to slowly shift manufacturing operations from China till it moved out comp­l­etely in 2019. That strategic decisi­on transformed Vietnam into Sam­sung’s mobile device assembly hub, investing $18 billion in factor­ies, supply chains and R&D. Viet­nam, which also liberalised a range of policies to accommodate foreign direct investment, catapulted itself to become the world’s largest exp­ort­er of mobile phones after China.