New Delhi: Samsung CEO Roh Tae-Moon has announced that the company will make new investments worth $3.3 billion in Vietnam to manufacture new semiconductor parts.
The announcement, which was made last week to Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, comes amid China’s growing concern over US dominance in the semiconductor industry. China continues to remain apprehensive of the tech giant’s possible alliance with the US and its ‘chip 4‘ alliance. This collaboration, consisting of countries such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, threatens to exclude China from international semiconductor production chains.
Samsung also hopes to facilitate further cooperation with Vietnamese research institutions and universities.
The world’s largest global memory chip maker, Samsung aims to begin trial production of its ‘flip-chip ball grid array’ — a surface-mount packaging technology used for integrated circuits — in the Vietnamese province of Thái Nguyên by July 2023. Samsung has already invested $1.4 billion in the region. It also hopes to set up a new research and development centre in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi by the end of this year or early 2023.
An initial part of Samsung’s investment, $841 million, has already been made in Ho Chi Minh City as the technology giant continues to diversify its manufacturing supply chain.
‘Vietnam will provide best possible conditions for foreign investors’
While discussing the recent investments by Samsung, Vietnamese PM Chinh said, “The Vietnamese government is committed to creating the best possible conditions for foreign investors in general and Samsung in particular.”
He also pledged to seriously consider and actively handle Samsung’s proposals, including training human resources to meet the requirements of enterprises and investors.
While Samsung has moved away from China, halting production of personal computers in Suzhou as well as closing its last mainland smartphone factory in Huizhou, South Korea continues to trade with the country. South Korea-China trade recorded a $570 million deficit this month and has been recording shortfalls since May.
Many technology corporations like Intel, Amkor and Hana Micron have invested in Vietnam for manufacturing semiconductor chips, setting up assembly and testing facilities. International manufacturers, meanwhile, are moving away from China for its rigid Covid-19 measures as well as increasing geopolitical tensions with the West.
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