Samsung Electro-Mechanics to build new factory in Vietnam

Samsung Electro-Mechanics (SEM), the semiconductor and camera module arm of South Korea chaebol Samsung, is set to build a new factory in Vietnam.

SEM made the statement during a performance review for the first quarter of this year, particularly for its package solution unit.

The firm aims to promptly respond to customer demand by opening a new plant in Vietnam and stabilizing mass production," SEM noted.

The market for high value-added products including servers and AI accelerators has passed the low point and is predicted to rise in the future, the firm added.

Samsung entered Vietnam in 2008 with a mobile phone factory in the northern province of Bac Ninh, and has been expanding its operations in Thai Nguyen, Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh City ever since. It now operates six plants, one distribution arm, and a research and development center.

Established in Vietnam in September 2013, the SEM factory in the northern province of Thai Nguyen earned a revenue of KRW2,127.4 billion ($1.6 billion) in 2023, up 7.71% year-on-year. Meanwhile, its post-tax profit rose 43.33% to KRW62.3 billion ($47.02 million).

The revenue figure was among the highest of all SEM’s subsidiaries around the world, only lower than those of Tianjin Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Samsung Electro-Mechanics (Shenzhen), both in China. Profit from the Vietnam subsidiary came second, behind only Tianjin.

In February 2022, SEM received an investment certificate to increase its investment in Thai Nguyen by $920 million to total $2.27 billion.

Samsung, already the largest foreign investor in Vietnam with more than $22 billion, plans to invest an additional $1 billion in the Southeast Asian country annually, said Choi Joo Ho, CEO of the firm's Vietnam operations, at a meeting with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang in early March.