Samsung to invest additional $1b in Vietnam as Roh Tae-moon meets prime minister

Samsung Electronics has pledged an additional $1 billion in investment in Vietnam this year, as the company's top executives make back-to-back visits to the country. Roh Tae-moon, Samsung Electronics' chief executive and head of the Device eXperience division, traveled to Vietnam for the second time in three months, following an earlier visit by Chief Financial Officer Park Soon-cheol.

According to the Vietnamese government and local media, Roh met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Le Minh Hung at the government headquarters in Hanoi on Thursday to discuss Samsung's operations in the country and its future investment plans.

Roh's latest visit came roughly three months after his previous trip. In May, he toured the Vietnamese production subsidiaries of Samsung Electronics' primary suppliers to assess manufacturing automation powered by AI and the progress of AX — artificial intelligence transformation.

At the meeting, Roh said cumulative exports from Samsung Electronics' smartphone production subsidiaries in Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen provinces had surpassed $500 billion as of the end of June.

The milestone came 17 years after Samsung Electronics began producing smartphones in Vietnam in April 2009. Vietnam is Samsung Electronics' largest production hub, accounting for roughly 50 percent of its global smartphone output.

The scale of Samsung's local operations is also growing rapidly. Samsung Vietnam posted sales of about $44 billion and exports of about $39 billion in the January–July period this year, sustaining double-digit growth.

According to local investment media, Vietnam's total merchandise exports during the same period reached $319.53 billion, meaning Samsung alone accounted for an estimated 12.2 percent of the country's total goods exports.

The relationship between Samsung and Vietnam, which grew around smartphones, appears to be shifting toward research and development and advanced industries.

"Samsung views Vietnam not merely as a production base, but as an important strategic partner with which we jointly pursue R&D and the advancement of cutting-edge technology," Roh said at the meeting.

Samsung plans to expand R&D investment in advanced technology sectors in Vietnam and support the development of highly skilled local technical talent. Its R&D center in Hanoi will also deepen cooperation with major Vietnamese universities.

Samsung's cumulative investment in Vietnam reached $24 billion as of the end of last year.

Prime Minister Hung asked Samsung to develop Vietnam into a hub for technology, R&D and innovation, going beyond simply expanding production capacity.

He said Vietnam hopes to broaden cooperation with South Korea in advanced technology sectors including semiconductors, AI, data centers, R&D and digital transformation.

The prime minister also called on Samsung to increase the participation of Vietnamese companies in its supply chain.

Hung asked Samsung to help identify additional local suppliers and strengthen their technical and managerial capabilities so that Vietnamese companies can enter not only Samsung's production network in Vietnam but also its supply chains in South Korea and globally.

The Vietnamese government said it would review appropriate support measures, within the bounds of the law, for Samsung's strategic and advanced technology projects.

Senior Samsung Electronics executives have been making a series of visits to Vietnam. Before Roh's trip, CFO Park Soon-cheol visited the country in July.

Park met with Vietnamese Finance Minister Ngo Van Tuan to discuss Samsung's current operations in the country and its medium- to long-term investment plans.

At that meeting, Samsung said it plans to invest an additional $1 billion in Vietnam before the end of this year.

Samsung affiliates have been following through with investments in Vietnam.

According to Reuters, Samsung Electronics is building a semiconductor test factory in Thai Nguyen province with an investment of about $1.5 billion, targeting operations to begin in November 2027.

The facility is located in an industrial complex roughly 60 kilometers north of Hanoi, adjacent to Samsung Electronics' existing smartphone and tablet production facilities.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics is investing about $1.2 billion in its Vietnamese production subsidiary to expand output of FC-BGA (flip-chip ball grid array) substrates, a high-value-added semiconductor component.

Samsung Display is also building a factory in Vietnam for IT and automotive OLED displays, having committed $1.8 billion to the project in 2024.