Samsung Electronics to inaugurate its largest Southeast Asia R&D center in Vietnam

Samsung Electronics is due to open on Friday a $220 million research and development center in Vietnam, where more than half of the Korean giant's smartphones are produced.

Samsung, the largest single foreign investor in Vietnam with $18 billion already spent, kicked off construction of the facility in Hanoi in March 2020.

The center will be in charge of R&D for the giant’s mobile devices, including smartphones and tablet PCs as well as software and hardware products, with around 3,000 researchers and engineers.

Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong is expected to join the Hanoi event, with Vietnamese senior officials also in attendance.

Built on 11,603 square meters of land, the Hanoi center would be Samsung’s largest R&D facility in Southeast Asia. The facility is a 16-story building with three basement floors and a total floor area of 79,511 square meters, according to Samsung.

Vietnam is home to smartphone, display panel, and home appliance factories of Samsung Group in Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen in the north, and Ho Chi Minh City in the south. More than half of Samsung’s smartphones are made in Vietnam.

Samsung Vietnam also has one operational R&D center, located in Hanoi. The newest center is directly under the parent Samsung Electronics.

In Samsung Group’s long-term strategy, Vietnam is moving beyond its status as a significant global manufacturing base and evolving into a strategic R&D hub.

Vietnam and South Korea announced on December 5 that the two countries upgraded their relations to a “comprehensive strategic partnership”. Vietnam’s President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk-yeol reaffirmed the goal of raising bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2023 and working towards $150 billion by 2030.

Samsung Electronics’ launch of its largest R&D center in Southeast Asia comes shortly after information was released that American tech giant Apple’s MacBook laptops would be manufactured for the first time in Vietnam in May 2023.

To date, iPads, AirPods, and Apple Watches have been produced in the country.