A unit of Samsung Electronics has received approval to invest another US$841 million in Vietnam, raising its capital in the country to US$2.84 billion.

Samsung Electronics HCMC CE Complex (SEHC) in Ho Chi Minh City’s Saigon Hi-Tech Park is the Korean giant's second-largest manufacturing site worldwide for TV screens and home electronics, after the largest in Mexico. SEHC started operations in 2016, one year after construction began.

Samsung's factories in Vietnam altogether represent its largest production base, accounting for about 60% of its smartphone production. The phones come from Samsung Vietnam’s facilities in Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen provinces in the north.

The group pumped another US$920 million into the Samsung Electro-Mechanics Vietnam (SEMV) project in Thai Nguyen this February, raising the factory’s total investment to US$2.27 billion. The facility makes and assembles mainboards, flexible printed circuit boards, components and spare parts such as camera modules, power adapters, touch sensor modules, and linear motors.

All in all, Samsung has channelled more than US$20 billion into Vietnam, 28 times higher than its initial commitment.

It is also building a US$220 million R&D centre in Hanoi, its largest in Southeast Asia. The facility, expected to open by the end of 2022, will employ 3,000 engineers, focusing on R&D products such as those related to 5G networks, artificial intelligence, internet of things, and big data.

In the case of Intel, it was licensed in 2006 to invest more than US$1 billion to build Intel Products Vietnam in Saigon Hi-Tech Park as the single largest assembly and test plant within its global manufacturing network. The US chipmaking giant has increased the investment to US$1.5 billion to date, and is preparing for further expansion in the country.