Samsung to pour $1 bln annually into Vietnam: CEO

Samsung, already the largest foreign investor in Vietnam, plans to invest an additional $1 billion in the Southeast Asian country annually, said Choi Joo Ho, CEO of the firm's Vietnam operations.

The Korean chaebol made an extra investment of $1.2 billion in 2023, lifting its tally in Vietnam to $22.4 billion, Choi told Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang at a meeting in Hanoi on Monday.

The group’s shipments from Vietnam fell to $55.7 billion the same year due to global economic turbulences and a narrowing mobile phone market, Choi said.

He shared that Samsung’s R&D center in Vietnam currently has 2,400 engineers, with Vietnamese staff playing a core role in developing Artificial Intelligence features for its Galaxy S24 flagship phone.

The executive asked for further support from the Vietnamese government for its operations.

In response, Quang reaffirmed the Vietnamese government’s determination to improve the investment climate and facilitate foreign firms’ long-term operations in the country.

The deputy prime minister suggested Samsung beef up cooperation with Vietnam’s National Innovation Center (NIC) and aid the country in meeting the target of training 50,000 semiconductor engineers by 2030.

Choi informed that Samsung Vietnam and the NIC last October signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in training young Vietnamese laborers in the high-tech sector. It is also partnering with the Vietnam National University-Hanoi to find 40 outstanding students to become future semiconductor leaders.

He pledged to expand cooperation with the NIC and support Vietnam in its semiconductor workforce formation plan.

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 an R&D center.