Intel to continue investing in Vietnam per pledged commitment: executive

Intel will continue to invest in Vietnam per its pledged commitment and continue stable operations, said Intel Products Vietnam general director Kim Huat Ooi.

The executive made the statement to the Vietnamese government's news portal after a Reuters article reported that the tech giant had called off its planned investment expansion in Vietnam.

Intel invested $1.5 billion in Vietnam between 2006 and January 2021, the executive noted. The Intel Vietnam factory accounts for 50% of packaging and testing tasks for Intel globally and currently participates in the production of the latest generation of Raptor Lake processors and the next generation of Meteor Lake processors, he added.

Intel is commited as a long-term and trustworthy partner and continues to accompany Vietnam in developing the semiconductor sector, Kim Huat Ooi emphasized.

Intel highly rates Vietnam’s investment environment, especially its political-social stability, the talented and young workforce, and its prime location in Asia, he added.

Reuters on November 7 quoted a source, who declined to be named because the information was confidential, as saying Intel has shelved a planned investment in Vietnam that could have nearly doubled the U.S. chipmaker's operation in the country and the decision had been made around July.

The company did not say why it had called off the expansion, the person said, but a second source who attended two separate meetings in recent weeks between U.S. companies and top Vietnamese officials told the news wire service that Intel had raised "concerns about the stability of power supplies and excessive bureaucracy".

Since 2021, Intel has announced global investments of billions of USD. They include $7 billion in Malaysia, $4.6 billion in Poland, and €17 billion ($18.18 billion) in Germany. In the U.S., its investments have included $3.5 billion in New Mexico, $20 billion in Arizona, $20 billion in Ohio, and an under-planning investment in Oregon.

Intel has submitted all four of its major manufacturing proposals in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio and Oregon, representing more than $100 billion in manufacturing and research investments, to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s CHIPS Program Office, Intel said in its Q3 review.

Intel has also emphasized its goal of “continuing its investment in manufacturing capacity to create a geographically balanced, secure and resilient supply chain.” In particular, in Q3/2023, Intel opened Fab 34 in Leixlip, Ireland. Combined with the company’s planned wafer fabrication facility in Magdeburg, Germany, and planned assembly and test facility in Wrocław, Poland, this will help create a first-of-its-kind, end-to-end leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing value chain in Europe.