Hanmi Semiconductor sets up local corporation in Vietnam

South Korean chip equipment maker Hanmi Semiconductor Co. said on Wednesday that it has set up a local subsidiary, Hanmi Vietnam, in the Bac Ninh region, a northern city that also serves as the capital of Bac Ninh province. 

The move is a response to Vietnam’s fast-growing status as a major production hub for global semiconductor companies.

Vietnam is increasingly drawing interest from global semiconductor firms due to its political stability, a wealth of human resources and easy access to the Asian high-tech supply chain.

"We will provide close service to Vietnamese consumers through Hanmi Vietnam's local subsidiary and local sales and service engineer experts," Hanmi Semiconductor CEO Kwak Dong-shin said. 

This expansion by Hanmi comes at a time when Vietnam has been welcoming significant foreign investments in the semiconductor industry.

Samsung Electronics Co., the largest foreign investor in the country, has made investments totaling $20 billion. Samsung Electro-Mechanics last year unveiled plans to invest $2.27 billion to bolster its next-generation semiconductor substrate flip chip ball grid array (FC-BGA) business.

In the meantime, Intel is mulling over an additional $1.31-billion investment in the Ho Chi Minh City Hi-Tech Park. The facility stands as Intel's most significant production base, contributing to 70% of the company's global output.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com