LG Innotek invests further $823 mln in Vietnam to raise camera module production

LG Innotek, the materials and components arm under South Korea’s chaebol LG, is in the process of investing an additional $823 million in its facility in Vietnam’s northern coastal city of Hai Phong to increase camera module production.

LG Innotek will focus the investment on its current factory in Trang Due Industrial Park. The 17.2-hectare plant started operations in 2016 with an annual capacity of 360 million camera modules. It currently employs 4,430 workers after several expansions.

With the additional funding, LG Innotek's total investment in Hai Phong city will rise to $1.87 billion, of which $1.36 billion will be covered by loans.

The latest expansion will increase the annual capacity to 390 million camera modules, new production of 71.5 million transmission items for camera modules, and 134 million 3D sensor modules.

LG Innotek is scheduled to complete the construction of new facilities in September 2024, install equipment for the first phase of the expansion by December 2024, start trial production from April 2025, and begin official operations from July 2025.

For the second phase of the expansion, LG Innotek will install equipment from January 2029, initiate trial production from November 2029, and put the project into full operation from February 2030.

As of April 2024, LG’s investment in Hai Phong city had amounted to $8.24 billion. Starting with $1.5 billion in 2013, the investment includes $7.24 billion conducted by LG itself, featuring LG Electronics, LG Display, LG Innotek, LG CNS, LG Chemical, and LG International, and $1 billion conducted by 50 affiliates of LG.

Two Vietnamese subsidiaries of South Korea’s LG Electronics posted a combined revenue of KRW10,897.1 billion ($7.95 billion) in 2023, up 23.4% year-on-year, according to the South Korean chaebol’s latest financial statements.