Samsung to build $1.5B chip testing plant in Vietnam

Samsung Electronics plans to invest $1.5 billion in a memory chip testing plant north of Hanoi, according to documents reviewed by Reuters.reuters
The facility will process DRAM and NAND chips to help ease a global memory shortage driven by surging AI demand, the proposal shows.marketscreener
Vietnamese authorities approved the investment in March, and Samsung may reinvest up to $2.5 billion in profits for a potential second factory.reuters

Samsung Plans $1.5 Billion Chip Testing Plant in Vietnam

Samsung Electronics will invest 39 trillion Vietnamese dong, roughly $1.5 billion, to build its first semiconductor testing plant in Vietnam, according to a proposal document reviewed by Reuters. Construction has already begun at an industrial park in Thai Nguyen province, about 60 kilometers north of Hanoi, with operations targeted for November 2027.reuters

Easing AI-Driven Chip Shortages

The facility will focus on testing legacy memory chips, with annual capacity to process 153.3 billion gigabits of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and 255.6 billion gigabits of NAND memory chips, according to the proposal submitted to Vietnamese authorities to obtain environmental permits. The expansion is aimed at easing a global shortage of memory chips driven by surging demand from artificial intelligence infrastructure.marketscreener

Vietnamese authorities approved the investment in March, and Samsung intends to reinvest profits from the project — “if any” — of up to about $2.5 billion for a potential second factory, the document showed. The proposal was sent to local authorities in April.klsescreener

Deepening Ties With Vietnam

The plant represents a further deepening of Samsung’s long-standing presence in the Southeast Asian country. Samsung is already Vietnam’s largest single foreign investor, having committed more than $23 billion to the country to date, according to the Vietnamese government. The company began making semiconductor components in Vietnam in 2023, and earlier this year reports emerged that Samsung was in talks with Hanoi over a broader $4 billion chip packaging investment in the same Thai Nguyen province.linkedin

Vietnam has been positioning itself as a growing link in the global semiconductor supply chain, and the Samsung project reinforces that ambition at a time when chipmakers worldwide are diversifying manufacturing beyond traditional hubs in South Korea, Taiwan, and China.reuters