He made the suggestion at a meeting on Tuesday with the South Korean company’s vice chairman, Lee Jae-yong, who is on a three-day business trip to Vietnam to explore business opportunities, the government news site reported.

He said a semiconductor plant would enable the company to have a closed production chain in Vietnam where it already has smartphone and consumer electronics plants.

The factory of Samsung Electronics Vietnam in the northern province of Thai Nguyen.

Samsung has two factories making smartphones in the north and a consumer electronics manufacturing plant in Ho Chi Minh City.

Phuc promised Vietnam would create the best possible conditions for Samsung to invest, including in R&D and hi-tech projects.

He said Vietnam has managed to contain the Covid-19 pandemic and would be the only country in Southeast Asia to achieve positive growth this year, possibly emerging as the fourth largest economy in the region this year.

Lee said Samsung’s $220 million research and development center in Hanoi, the first of its kind outside South Korea, would begin functioning in 2022. Construction began in March this year.

With more than 3,000 engineers it would become the company’s key R&D center globally, he said.

He thanked the Vietnamese government for allowing more than 3,000 Samsung personnel to enter the country to work since March though of the Covid-19 pandemic.

If Samsung’s production units in Vietnam did not function normally, it would disrupt its global production and supply chain, he said.

He plans to visit TV screen producer Samsung Electronics HCMC CE Complex (SEHC) at the Saigon Hi-Tech Park in HCMC's District 9 and consider expanding it.

The PM told him the government had agreed with HCMC's proposal to allow SEHC to become an export processing company to enable it to expand and strengthen its global competitiveness.

Vietnam is Samsung's largest smartphone production base, with half of all its phones being made in the country. It has invested over $17 billion in Vietnam so far.

Vietnam remains Samsung’s global manufacturing base

Samsung Vietnam has rejected the information that it will move part of its smartphone production from Vietnam to India.

PM commits further support to Samsung Vietnam

The Vietnamese Government, ministries, agencies and localities will continue providing all possible support for Korean businesses and corporations, including Samsung, to continue doing business successfully in Vietnam, said Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Over 40 Samsung computer monitor products to be manufactured in Vietnam

Samsung has stated that more than 40 computer monitor products have now been researched by engineers to complete the production lines in Vietnam.

Samsung Hope School fuels belief of poor children

(BGO) - Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee of Bac Giang province has decided to approve the project “Samsung Hope School” in Dinh Huong village, Thang town, Hiep Hoa district granted by Samsung Electronics Vietnam Company Limited (SEV) and Korean Food and Hungry International (KFHI). The people’s committee of Hiep Hoa district will act as owner of the aid package.

Bac Giang provincial Steering Committee urges drastic measures to review workers at SamSung Display Company

(BGO) – The Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control in Bac Giang province (Steering Committee) on April 13 issued urgent correspondence to order the People’s Committee in the districts and city to promptly review the Bac Giang’s residents and relevant case working at EQC-SI in SamSung Display Company, Yen Phong Industrial Park (Bac Ninh) who related to patient 262 so as to isolate and take sample for SARS-CoV-2 testing. 

Source: VnExpress