Samsung investment in Vietnam reaching new heights: CEO

Samsung Group sees this year as a significant milestone in Vietnam as it is the Korean giant’s 15th year of massive investments in the country, said Samsung Vietnam CEO Choi Joo Ho.

"Vietnam is Samsung’s most important investment destination worldwide,” Choi said in a video clip published by the Vietnam government portal Wednesday on occasion of the Lunar New Year.

He noted 2023 marked an elevation of the importance of Vietnam not only as a manufacturing hub but also a center for research and development (R&D) activities.

Samsung Electronics inaugurated its largest Southeast Asia R&D center in Hanoi in late December. Covering 11,603 square meters, the 16-story facility has a floor space of 79,511 square meters where 2,200 researchers will carry out projects for mobile devices, network communication technologies, and software.

"I expect the R&D center to contribute to Vietnam's industrial competitiveness and to the relationship between South Korea and Vietnam," Samsung Electronics executive chairman Lee Jae-yong said at the opening ceremony in Hanoi.

Samsung Vietnam CEO Choi reiterated his boss by saying that the new facility is on the way to becoming a leading global R&D center for Samsung.

“Right this year, Samsung will intensify cooperation with major Vietnamese universities and strengthen support for information technology talents,” he said in his clip.

Choi stressed that Samsung Vietnam had faced tough times due to the pandemic and the negative impacts of the global economic recession, but the heavyweight has been strongly supported by the government to overcome these difficulties. In reply, Samsung has been expanding its investment in the country while maintaining its corporate social responsibility efforts.

As for the Vietnamese workforce, Choi said his Vietnamese staff members are smart and hard-working with career development goals for a better future.

“Especially, I see they learn new technologies very quickly. That is the basis for us to believe Vietnamese employees have the ability to master new technologies and are the core team to join us in realizing our vision of turning the new R&D center in Vietnam into Samsung’s number one.”

Samsung is also providing training to create conditions for elite Vietnamese employees to be able to become Samsung leaders in the future, he added.

Due to global economic headwinds, Choi said Samsung Vietnam would this year confront many difficulties. “But with the support of the Vietnamese government, I believe this year will see many great strides of Samsung.”

In Vietnam, Samsung Electronics is operating smartphone, TV, display panel, and home appliances factories in Ho Chi Minh City, and the northern provinces of Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen. The country’s Samsung smartphone factories are responsible for producing almost half of the company’s Galaxy smartphones.

Since establishing a mobile phone manufacturing plant in Bac Ninh in 2008, Samsung has been more aggressively investing in Vietnam. To date, it has invested $18 billion in the Southeast Asian country to become the largest single foreign investor here and has plans to add $2 billion.