Sunny Optical prepares new $2.5 bln investment in Vietnam

Sunny Optical Technology, a supplier to major smartphone brands worldwide, is poised to invest an additional $2.5 billion building a manufacturing complex in northern Vietnam, where the Chinese group has already invested $130 million in four operating plants.

Sunny Optical chairman Ye Liaoning met with Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang in Hanoi on Wednesday to inform him of the new investment plans in Thai Nguyen province near Hanoi. A day earlier, Sunny Optical signed a memorandum of understanding with the provincial People’s Committee for the new manufacturing project.

The new plans are part of supply chain diversification initiatives at Sunny Optical, which supplies major Chinese smartphone brands like Oppo, Huawei, and Vivo.

The optical products complex will cover between 26 and 40 hectares in Yen Binh Industrial Park. Construction is expected to take five years after the provincial administration grants an investment license, and the new project will provide parts and components to the electronics and automobile sectors.

The new project is expected to create about 15,000 direct jobs in Thai Nguyen, about one hour’s drive from Hanoi, and home to Samsung Electronics’ largest Vietnam-based smartphone production facility.

Sunny Optical existing factories in Vietnam are based in Thai Nguyen, Vinh Phuc and Hanoi. In Thai Nguyen’s Yen Binh IP, which will house the new project, Sunny Opotech Vietnam's $110 million in investment has been making camera modules since March 2022.

More than half of Samsung’s smartphones are currently made in Vietnam, with a majority of them from Samsung Electronics Vietnam Thai Nguyen, or SEVT. The Korean giant operates four manufacturing facilities in the country, namely SEVT, Samsung Electronics Vietnam (SEV) and Samsung Display Vietnam (SDV) both in Bac Ninh province bordering Hanoi, and Samsung HCMC CE Complex (SEHC) in Ho Chi Minh City.

The four Vietnam subsidiaries reported after-tax profits of 6.056 trillion won ($4.67 billion) in 2022, up 16.28% year-on-year, according to Samsung’s latest financial statement. The four companies recorded a combined revenue of 2.032 trillion won ($71.02 billion) last year, up 12.18% year-on-year.

In Bac Ninh, Amkor Technology, a global semiconductor product packaging and test services provider, is investing a total of $1.6 billion in developing a state-of-the-art facility by 2035. The smart plant will be an important part of the American corporation’s worldwide network, Amkor announced in late 2021.

American giant chipmaker Intel is reportedly giving thought to making a “significant increase” in its existing investment in Vietnam to add further production at its chip testing and packaging plant in HCMC’s Saigon Hi-Tech Park. The potential increase in investment could be worth as much as $1 billion, Reuters has reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Intel has to date invested $1.5 billion in Vietnam. Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger, in his meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Hanoi last May, said his corporation had plans to enlarge business and investment in Vietnam. However, Gelsinger did not divulge the amount of new investment capital.