Pointing to the chip storage wilderness! Samsung will invest $1.5 billion to build the first chip testing factory in Vietnam, with hopes of beginning production in 2027.

Samsung Electronics plans to invest 390 trillion Vietnamese dong (approximately 15 billion US dollars) in Vietnam to build its first chip testing factory. This project aims to alleviate the global shortage of storage chips caused by the surge in demand for artificial intelligence (AI). The factory is located in an industrial park about 60 kilometers north of Hanoi, and construction has already begun. It is expected to officially start production in November 2027. According to the proposal submitted by Samsung for environmental approval for the new factory site, the new factory's annual production capacity will include 153.3 billion gigabits (Gb) of DRAM chips and an additional 255.6 billion Gb of NAND flash memory chips. The investment was approved by Vietnamese authorities in March 2026. It is currently unclear whether the factory has obtained all necessary permits or if negotiations with Vietnamese authorities are still ongoing. As early as April this year, there were reports that Samsung planned to invest approximately 4 billion US dollars in building a semiconductor packaging and testing factory in northern Vietnam in phases, with an initial investment of 2 billion US dollars, making it the largest single investment in this field since Samsung entered Vietnam in 2008. It is understood that since April, more than 200 Samsung engineers and employees have been working on the project site a common practice in the Vietnamese business community to advance manufacturing projects before final approval is completed to accelerate construction progress. The factory will focus on the production of "traditional chips" (non-cutting-edge memory products). While its direct importance to the AI supply chain is relatively low, traditional storage chips are also facing a severe supply shortage as major manufacturers shift more capacity to AI chip manufacturing. The strong demand for storage chips from AI data center operators has severely constrained supply in industries such as smartphones, laptops, and automobiles. Samsung's increased investment in a testing factory in Vietnam is expected to help alleviate this situation to some extent. This chip testing factory is just a part of Samsung's extensive investment blueprint in Vietnam. To date, Samsung has accumulated over 23 billion US dollars in investments in Vietnam over the past few decades, making it the largest foreign investor in the country with multiple projects. The new chip testing factory is located near where Samsung's large factory base for producing smartphones and tablets in Vietnam. At the same time, Samsung is not only satisfied with building just one factory. The documents show that Samsung plans to use up to approximately 2.5 billion US dollars of potential profits from this project to build a potential second factory. This indicates Samsung's long-term optimism about the strategic value of Vietnam as its semiconductor backend manufacturing hub. It is worth mentioning that Vietnam plays an important role in the global semiconductor back-end process (packaging and testing) industry. Typically, the semiconductor back-end process is more labor-intensive and has lower technological content than the front-end process (wafer manufacturing). However, Vietnam's role in the Southeast Asian semiconductor landscape seems to be undergoing a qualitative change evolving from a simple low-cost assembly base to a strategic node for hosting core production capacities of multinational giants. Intel Corporation(INCT.US) movements are the most representative. In May 2026, Intel Corporation confirmed the relocation of some of its assembly, packaging, and testing operations from Costa Rica to Vietnam. The products being relocated are not lower-end chips, but high-end products used for data center servers and next-generation network connections, including the Panther Lake and Wildcat Lake processors based on Intel Corporation's most advanced 18A process. Intel Corporation's Vietnam factory is located in the Saigon Hi-Tech Park, covering 46.6 hectares, with a total investment of approximately 1.5 billion US dollars. It is Intel Corporation's largest assembly and testing site globally. The factory's exports have been increasing year by year: 103.1 billion US dollars in 2023, 114.1 billion US dollars in 2024, 116.7 billion US dollars in 2025, and an expected 146 billion US dollars in 2026, a 25% year-on-year growth. In addition, Amkor Technology(AMKR.US) has invested a total of 1.6 billion US dollars in building advanced packaging facilities in Bac Ninh Province since 2021. Hana Micron also plans to invest approximately 930 million US dollars by 2026 to expand its packaging capacity in Vietnam. On the domestic breakthrough front, on January 16, 2026, Vietnamese telecom giant Viettel began construction of Vietnam's first chip manufacturing plant in Hanoi and the LEGO Technology Park, covering 27 hectares and using a 32nm process, with a target of trial production by the end of 2027. The Vietnamese government's semiconductor national strategy clearly states that by 2050, Vietnam aims to become a major global semiconductor supplier and build at least 10 chip packaging and testing facilities before 2030. In addition, in December 2025, the Vietnamese government voted to stop exporting rare earth elements Vietnam has the world's second-largest rare earth reserves, and this decision is seen as a signal to convert resource advantages into strategic leverage in the semiconductor industry chain.