Vietnam's Economy
Samsung in Vietnam
How Samsung built giant phone factories in northern Vietnam, becoming its biggest exporter, and what this shows about foreign investment-led growth.
Samsung is Vietnam’s largest foreign investor and exporter.
The investment
- Samsung opened its first large phone plant in Bac Ninh province in 2009, followed by Thai Nguyen.
- Total investment reached over 20 billion dollars.
- A large share of Samsung’s global smartphones are made in Vietnam.
Impact
- Samsung’s Vietnam operations have accounted for a significant share of Vietnam’s total exports, often around 15 to 20 percent in some years.
- Hundreds of thousands of jobs, many for young women from rural areas.
Why Vietnam
- Low wages with a disciplined workforce.
- Incentives: tax breaks and land.
- Trade agreements giving market access.
- Political stability.
Limited linkages
- Many components are imported.
- Vietnamese suppliers provide mainly packaging and simple parts, limiting technology transfer.
Other investors
LG, Intel, Foxconn, Apple suppliers and others followed.
The factory town
Bac Ninh, once a rice-farming province, now has huge factories where tens of thousands of workers assemble smartphones for export.
Thinking Vietnamese firms make most of its electronics exports
Foreign firms like Samsung dominate.
Key takeaways
- Samsung opened large phone plants in Vietnam from 2009.
- It invested over 20 billion dollars.
- It accounts for a large share of Vietnam's exports.
- Local supplier linkages remain limited.
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