Samsung Electronics to invest additional $1 billion per year in Vietnam

Samsung Electronics pledged to boost its annual investment in Vietnam by $1 billion. Vietnam plays a pivotal role in Samsung's operations in Southeast Asia.

Samsung Electronics Chief Financial Officer Park Hark-kyu, left, shakes hands with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the government office in Hanoi on May 9. [VGP]

Samsung Electronics pledged to boost its annual investment in Vietnam by $1 billion, further strengthening its ties with the Southeast Asian country responsible for half of its smartphone output.

Samsung Electronics Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Park Hark-kyu met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Hanoi last week to make such pledges, according VGP, Vietnam's state-run news outlet.

Park said during the meeting that Samsung Electronics has already invested $22.4 billion in Vietnam so far and incorporated a total of 309 Vietnamese companies into its supply chain, a more than 12-fold increase from 2014.

The CFO expressed hopes that Vietnam's business environment would continue to improve.

Prime Minister Chinh responded by pledging to help foreign companies, including Samsung Electronics, do business in Vietnam, emphasizing that the country considers reforms to its business environment, administrative process and regulations important.

Chinh also requested that Park to help Vietnamese companies enter Samsung Electronics' supply chain.

Vietnam plays a pivotal role in the operations of Samsung Electronics and an array of other Samsung companies in Southeast Asia.

After first advancing into the country in 1989 with the establishment of Samsung C&T's trading office in Hanoi, Samsung Electronics established its TV sales operation in Ho Chi Minh in 1995.

The firm took the first step toward establishing Vietnam as its key manufacturing base in 2008 by founding a smartphone factory in the northern city of Bac Ninh.

Vietnam now produces half of Samsung Electronics' smartphones.

Most recently, the Korean electronics giant spent $220 million on building a research and development facility in Hanoi dedicated to electronic devices and network technologies, becoming the first foreign company to set up a comprehensive research center in the Southeast Asian country.

Hyosung Vice Chairman Lee Sang-woon also met with the Vietnamese prime minister to discuss future business cooperation.

Lee reportedly requested the prime minister's approval to build a data center in Ho Chi Minh.

Hyosung, a Korean chemical-to-IT giant that also manufactures automatic teller machines is said to be eyeing construction of an ATM production facility in Vietnam.

BY JIN EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]