Amkor Technology seeks to open Vietnam factory in fourth quarter

U.S.-based Amkor Technology Inc., a global semiconductor product packaging and test services provider, expects its Vietnam mega facility to begin first-phase manufacturing in the fourth quarter of this year.

The factory will be among the biggest operated by Amkor globally as it will cover 1.9 million square feet (over 176,500 square meters) in the northern province of Bac Ninh, Amkor said in its latest report on this year's first quarter.

The plant will deliver advanced system-in-package (SiP) modules and other packaging solutions, helping the firm with supply chain diversification.

The Vietnamese plant's size will be only behind Amkor's South Korean factory with an area of 4.4 million square feet. Other major production sites are the Japanese one of 1.8 million square feet, the Shanghai one of 1.4 million square feet, and the Philippine one of 1.3 million square feet.

Amkor Technology Inc. is investing about $1.6 billion until 2035 to build a state-of-the-art facility in Bac Ninh, with construction launched last year. It noted the construction of the plant initially incurred costs of $79.6 million in 2022.

Continual business expansion among major foreign electronics manufacturers in Vietnam are fueling industry development and luring new capital sources. It is now home to facilities operated by Samsung, LG, Intel, Amkor Technology, Panasonic, Canon, Foxconn, Pegatron, Goertek, Luxshare, Wistron, Foster Electric, among others.

Intel has received an investment certificate for $1.2 billion to manufacture chips in Ho Chi Minh City. The HCMC unit is Intel’s third chip factory in the world, besides those in Scotland and Israel, and is set to supply 20% of the global demand for chips, according to Vietnam’s Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises (VAFIE) chairman Prof. Nguyen Mai.

Samsung Electronics inaugurated its largest Southeast Asia research and development center in Hanoi last December, meaning an elevation of the importance of Vietnam not only as a manufacturing hub but also a center for research activities. On the 11,603 square meters of land, the 16-story facility has a floor area of 79,511 square meters where 2,200 researchers will carry out projects for mobile devices, network communication technologies, and software, according to the Korean tech giant.

LG Electronics inaugurated a new R&D facility in Hanoi in March, saying the new facility will further nurture its existing auto parts-focused R&D center, which the Korean tech giant has been running since 2016. LG did not reveal the investment for the new center. The new Hanoi R&D center focuses on software development and inspection of in-vehicle products, including telematics, and audio, video and navigation devices, LG said. They are typically called in-vehicle infotainment systems.