Vietnam expected to remain strategic base for Samsung

Samsung should continue to expand its investment and business activities in Vietnam, making the country one of the Group’s strategic bases.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai at the ceremony. Source: Samsung Vietnam

Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai made the remarks at the 10th-anniversary celebration of Samsung Electronics Vietnam Thai Nguyen (SEVT) and the awarding of the Third Class Labor Order to the company on April 20.

"This momentous occasion commemorates SEVT's 10-year journey of construction and growth, as well as the Samsung Group's overall presence in Vietnam. It signifies the extensive, substantial, and fruitful cooperation between Vietnam and South Korea, highlighting the strong relationship between the two countries," Khai said.

The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that Samsung, as the largest Korean investor and the largest foreign investor in Vietnam with registered capital of nearly US$20 billion, has played a crucial role in the development of Vietnam's electronics industry, trade relations, job creation, domestic business promotion, and value chain establishment, as well as making significant contributions to the State budget.

Khai noted that over the course of its 10 years of operation in Vietnam, SEVT has been the top revenue and export contributor within Samsung Group in Vietnam, promoting mobile phones made in Vietnam to the global market.

In 2022, the company achieved revenue of US$28.3 billion, accounting for 38.3% of Samsung Vietnam's total revenue, and export revenue of US$27.3 billion, or 42.1% of the total.

Khai noted that the Vietnamese government continues to prioritize and create favorable conditions to attract both domestic and foreign investors, following the principle of "shared benefits and shared risks".

"The celebration of SEVT's 10th anniversary shows that Vietnam remains a safe, attractive, and promising investment destination for foreign investors, especially those from South Korea," Khai said.

Delegates at the event.

Through its decade-long journey and efforts to invest and do business in Vietnam, the Samsung Group has shown its determination to establish Vietnam as a global base with a serious, long-term and effective investment strategy. This includes the establishment and operation of the Group's R&D center in Hanoi, one of the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia, Khai added.

On this occasion, Khai called on Samsung to continue the plan to elevate Vietnam's role in its development strategy, serving not only as a production base but also as a strategic hub for Samsung's global R&D efforts.

"The Group should strive to nurture Vietnamese elite talents and establish the Vietnam base as a hub for research, innovation, development, and application of world-leading technologies," Khai said.

He expected Samsung to make necessary preparations for early pilot production of semiconductor chip grid products. The goal is to achieve mass production at Samsung's Thai Nguyen factory from July 2023, completing the entire production chain in the field of electricity and electronics in Vietnam.

Another key objective mentioned by Khai is for Samsung to support its local partners in research, technology transfer and application of new and advanced technologies.

This will contribute to the growth and development of Vietnam's economy in the process of industrialization and modernization, Khai said.

Director of Samsung Vietnam Choi Joo Ho.

At the event, Choi Joo Ho, Director of Samsung Vietnam, expressed Samsung's commitment to becoming a "national enterprise" loved by the Vietnamese people.

Choi noted that 2023 will also mark 15 years since Samsung first implemented its large-scale investment plan with the establishment of Samsung Electronics Vietnam (SEV) in Bac Ninh in 2008.

Samsung now has six factories, one R&D center, and one sales legal entity in Vietnam. Among them, SEV and SEVT are Samsung's two largest mobile phone factories in the world. Samsung Electronics Ho Chi Minh (SEHC) is the largest consumer electronics factory in Southeast Asia.

In addition, the recently inaugurated R&D center in Hanoi in December 2022 is a clear indication of Samsung's commitment to take Vietnam beyond its role as a global manufacturing base and make it a strategic base for global R&D, Choi said.

In 2022, despite global economic challenges, Samsung Vietnam contributed to Vietnam's economic recovery and development by achieving an export turnover of $65 billion, accounting for about 17.5% of Vietnam's total export turnover in the year.

In addition, Samsung's efforts have also resulted in the increased participation of Vietnamese enterprises in the global value chain and have made significant contributions to the development of the electronics industry in Vietnam. The number of Vietnamese tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers in Samsung's global supply chain has increased tenfold, from 25 in 2014 to 257 by the end of 2022.