According to people familiar with the matter, Samsung Electronics plans to invest approximately US$4 billion in a new chip packaging and testing factory in northern Vietnam to further expand its layout in this Southeast Asian manufacturing base. The project is located in Tai Nguyen Province in northern Vietnam and will be implemented in phases. The initial investment scale is approximately US$2 billion. Additional capital investment will continue to be made depending on the progress of the project. The person concerned requested anonymity because the information has not yet been made public. Samsung declined to comment on the plan.
Vietnam's Finance Ministry confirmed in a statement on Thursday that it was negotiating a memorandum of cooperation with Samsung on a semiconductor project, but no further details were disclosed. This development comes as global chip manufacturers are competing to expand production. Samsung and its global peers are accelerating the pace of expansion to meet the growing demand for chips from data centers and various terminal devices equipped with artificial intelligence services.
As one of the first large Korean companies to enter Vietnam, Samsung established its first factory in Bac Ninh Province in northern Vietnam as early as 2008. As investment in Vietnam continues to increase, the country has gradually developed into Samsung's largest mobile phone production base in the world. In 2013, Samsung built another smartphone factory in Thai Nguyen Province, further consolidating its local manufacturing network.
In recent years, Vietnam has gradually emerged as an important production center in Asia with its rapidly growing economy and continuously improving manufacturing supporting facilities. As global companies adjust their production layout to diversify supply chain risks and reduce dependence on China, Vietnam has become an important destination for many multinational companies to transfer production capacity and hedge against the impact of Sino-US trade friction. Even against the background of rising global tariff barriers and tightening trade environment last year, Vietnam's shipments to its largest export market still hit a new high, showing strong resilience.
In this process, Samsung plays a key role. As Vietnam's largest export company, Samsung has been deeply embedded in the local manufacturing ecosystem, building an industrial chain for Vietnam covering high value-added links such as smartphones, components, display panels, and research and development. Samsung's agglomeration effect in Vietnam has also driven a large number of upstream and downstream suppliers to enter the country, expanding industrial production capacity while promoting Vietnam's transformation into a global electronics manufacturing center. However, as key components and core technologies are still highly dependent on overseas, Vietnam's local share in the entire value chain still needs to be increased.
According to data disclosed on the Vietnamese government website, as of 2024, Samsung's cumulative investment in Vietnam has exceeded US$23.2 billion, creating approximately 90,000 local jobs. In its previous investment layout, Samsung added an additional US$920 million in capital to its business in Taiyuan Province in 2022, increasing the total investment in the local Samsung Electro-Mechanics factory to US$2.3 billion. Earlier this year, Samsung promised to invest an additional US$1.2 billion in Thai Nguyen Province to produce high-end electronic circuit boards and other products. The relevant information has also been confirmed by Vietnam's Ministry of Finance. The newly planned US$4 billion chip packaging and testing factory will further enhance Samsung's semiconductor industry layout in Vietnam on the above basis, and is regarded by the outside world as an important part of its efforts to increase the global chip supply chain and strengthen the status of Vietnam's manufacturing base.