Vietnam remains a new bright spot for Korean investors in Southeast Asia, as evidenced by their increasing presence in Vietnam.
Last December, Samsung Electronics Vietnam (SEV) was licensed to add more than $600 million to its existing $1.4 billion Samsung Electronics Ho Chi Minh City Complex (SEHC), increasing its total investment capital to over $2 billion. Besides, on March 30, SEV was licensed to implement a $300 million research and development (R&D) centre project in Hoang Mai district, Hanoi, increasing Samsung's total investment capital to $15 billion in Vietnam.
Besides, on April 5, LG Display and the Haiphong People's Committee signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the former to implement a high-tech, $1.5 billion OLED screen production facility in the northern port city's Trang Due industrial park (IP). It is LG's first overseas OLED production project in the world, as well as the group's second project of such magnitude in Trang Due IP. The 40-hectare factory's construction is expected to start this May.
According to statistics of the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA), in the first quarter of 2016, Vietnam licensed approximately $4.03 billion in FDI, up 109 per cent on-year, comprising $2.74 billion to 473 newly-registered projects and $1.29 billion in added capital to 203 existing projects. Korea retains its leading position among foreign-invested enterprises investing in Vietnam, with the total capital of $888.6 million, equalling 22 per cent of the total registered FDI sum.
South Korean investors' capital inflow is expected to increase in the upcoming time, especially in the sectors of electronics, distribution, retail, property, energy, and textile and garment. Almost all large Korean enterprises doing business in Vietnam at present are on the FORTUNE 500 list, including Samsung, LG, GS, POSCO, Hyundai, KEPCO, and SK, just to name a few. Along with exceptionally large investments, these investors have brought modern technology lines to Vietnam.
Notably, SEV will soon implement the construction of the largest R&D centre in the Southeast Asian region, carving out an eminent position among the corporation's 25 R&D centres worldwide, to research and develop high-technology and Samsung's latest products. According to Han Myoung Sup, general director of SEV, Samsung will concentrate its resources to complete the construction on schedule, professing to determination in building a long-term co-operation with Vietnam.
Similarly, the $1.5 billion OLED screen factory in Trang Due IP will bring a series of Korean satellite investors to Vietnam, contributing to developing the domestic supporting industries, once it comes into operation.
By Thu Le-Thanh Son (VIR)
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