Samsung Elec to develop Vietnam as global strategic base

Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s top memory chip and smartphone maker, aims to nurture Vietnam as a global strategic base as it opens a new research and development center in the Southeast Asian country.

The South Korean tech giant on Friday held an opening ceremony for the center, which will focus on software, smart devices and network technologies. The 16-story facility in Hanoi with a total floor area of 79,511 square meters on an 11,603-square-meter site will host some 2,200 researchers.

“The Vietnam Samsung R&D center will help not only improve the country’s industrial competitiveness but also promote friendly cooperation between South Korea and Vietnam,” said Samsung Chairman Jay Y. Lee at the opening ceremony.

TO GLOBAL STRATEGIC BASE FROM PRODUCTION BASE

Vietnam is a key global manufacturing base of Samsung, which currently produces smartphones, network telecommunication equipment, TVs, displays and batteries there. The country makes up more than half of Samsung’s global smartphone output.

The company, which operates six production units and one sales unit in the nation, also contributes to Vietnam’s economic growth, accounting for some 20% of the country’s total exports of $336.3 billion in 2021.

Lee visited smartphone and display factories around Hanoi on Thursday to check their business and mid-to-long-term strategies.

The leader of South Korea’s top conglomerate Samsung Group has been taking care of its Vietnamese businesses, expanding relationships with high-ranking government officials there, since he visited there with late chairman Lee Kun-hee, his father, in 2012.

Write to Jeong-Soo Hwang at hjs@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.