Founded in 2002 in California, Vizio has grown to become one of the major TV brands on the market in 2025. But what makes the company’s smart TVs stand out from other household names like Samsung and LG are their price points. Once known as the king of cheap TVs, the company’s primary strategy since its entry into the U.S. TV market in 2002 has been to offer TVs at a lower price than the competition. It paid off, as barely a decade after its founding, the company was already shipping more than a million units per quarter.
While it’s currently competing with the likes of Hisense and TCL on lower-priced TVs, Vizio’s strategy seemingly worked, with the company now ranked as one of the best TV brands by consumers in a 2025 study conducted by Lifestory Research. Even in 2025, Vizio’s models are still recommended as some of the best cheap smart TVs by experts. But its pricing strategy hasn’t been the company’s only secret to success. Among other factors, Vizio has also optimized the manufacturing side of things to ensure it can offer its sets at competitive prices.
The secret? Handling design in-house and outsourcing manufacturing to third parties, according to Paul Gagnon, former director of North America TV research at NPD Group’s Displaysearch, speaking to Fortune in 2012. That strategy wasn’t mainstream at the time, said Gagnon, as companies typically handled everything from design to manufacturing and marketing. Accordingly, if Vizio doesn’t manufacture its TVs but only outsources to original device manufacturers (ODMs), then who is responsible, and where are the sets made?
Who actually manufactures Vizio TVs?
In the linked 2012 Fortune article, then-Vizio CTO Matt McRae revealed that, at the time, they depended on four ODMs for manufacturing, including Taiwan-based AmTran Technology (AMTC). McRae told Fortune, “Each of the manufacturers we work with does something well, and we do have manufacturers that do specific products like sets in one screen size very well. When we are building a specific TV, we try to pick the best components and look for who would be the best match to manufacture the product.”
Vizio’s 2022 annual report also suggested that the company’s manufacturing outsourcing strategy is still alive today. The report notes that while Vizio handles all the design in California, it depends on third-party companies for manufacturing its TV sets. According to the report, the company says it outsources manufacturing to several ODMs, including BOE, Foxconn, Innolux, KIE, Tonly, TPV, and Zylux.
Although it doesn’t reveal the specific percentage of manufacturing per ODM, market intelligence firm TrendForce revealed in a 2024 article, while discussing Walmart’s acquisition of Vizio, that the TV brand relies on three key manufacturers (Innolux, BOEVT, and AMTC), which reportedly handle 80% of the production load. Vizio further noted that it doesn’t procure parts used in its products — its contract manufacturers are the ones responsible for both procurement and assembly.
Where does Vizio manufacture its TVs?
Unlike some major U.S. companies that solely rely on China for manufacturing, Vizio doesn’t. If it doesn’t entirely rely on China, you’d think that as an American brand, it would manufacture a sizable percentage of its products in the U.S. However, Vizio doesn’t manufacture any of its entertainment products stateside, including its TV sets. From its 2022 annual report, Vizio noted that its products — including TVs, soundbars, and other entertainment products — are assembled in five different countries: China, Mexico, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The report also maps the journey of your cheap Vizio smart TV from manufacturing to your doorstep. It reveals that after assembly in Asia and Mexico, TVs are packaged for retail and are shipped to Vizio’s logistics hubs in the U.S., from which they are delivered to different locations, including the company’s partners, or sold directly to consumers.
However, please note that all of these details are gleaned from a 2022 report. Vizio’s 2023 and 2024 annual reports don’t mention its manufacturing practices, so it might have changed things up in the interim. Plus, with Walmart’s approximately $2.3 billion acquisition of the TV brand in 2024, it’s unclear how things will proceed from here.
