Pandora has opened a new manufacturing facility in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam—Pandora has opened its new manufacturing facility in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
The new manufacturing facility is its fourth worldwide and its first outside of Thailand, where it operates two in Bangkok and one in Lamphun.
It is expected to produce up to 60 million pieces of jewelry per year, bolstering Pandora's manufacturing capacity by 50 percent. The site covers 7.5 hectares, around the size of 10 football fields.
It’s the start of an important new chapter for Pandora, said Pandora CEO Berta de Pablos-Barbier.
"We are building on decades of exceptional craftsmanship in Thailand, bringing that expertise together with new talent and capabilities in Vietnam,” she said in a statement.
In an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” Friday morning, she said, “We have 37 years of crafting production in Thailand, but we wanted to make sure that we are building greater flexibility and strengthening [the] resilience of Pandora. So, that's why we decided that it was better not to be dependent on a single country, and we wanted to go to a second one. And Vietnam was the clear winner.”
A worker in Pandora’s new Vietnam factory crafting gold-plated heart charms.
It marks the beginning of a long-term partnership with Vietnam, said the company.
“Vietnam’s skilled workforce and its vision for access to renewable energy are important factors behind Pandora and other Danish investments in Vietnam at record levels these years,” noted Lina Gandløse Hansen, Danish ambassador to Vietnam.
When fully operational, the new facility will create 7,000 local jobs.
Craftspeople will be trained through Pandora's crafting academy, supporting skills development and long-term career opportunities, with knowledge-sharing between the teams in Thailand and Vietnam.
Workers at the new Pandora facility will receive specialized training to further develop their skills.
This is the first Pandora charm that was assembled at the new facility.
“The Pandora facility will not only create thousands of employment opportunities and contribute to local economic development, but will also further reinforce the position of Ho Chi Minh City, and Vietnam more broadly, as an important manufacturing hub in global supply chains,” said Nguyễn Lộc Hà, vice chairman of the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City.
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Pandora first announced plans for the facility in Vietnam in 2022, with a memorandum of understanding stating construction would begin in early 2023 and cost around $100 million, with production starting by the end of 2024.
In May 2024, the company announced that it had broken ground on the facility and was expecting to invest more than $150 million in the project, which it expected to be complete by early 2026.
The facility will play a key role in Pandora’s future production of platinum-plated jewelry, it said, and will also craft pieces with 100 percent "recycled" gold and silver.
The new space has achieved LEED Gold certification, one of the world's leading certifications for sustainable buildings.
It will operate solely on renewable electricity, with energy and water efficiency measures in place, said Pandora.
The opening ceremony was held Thursday, welcoming Pandora leaders, Vietnamese authorities, the Danish Ambassador to Vietnam, and media guests.
The day marked the first piece of Pandora jewelry crafted in Vietnam.
