South Korean chaebol Samsung’s mobile phone manufacturing entities in Vietnam’s northern provinces of Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen had reported $500 billion in cumulative export turnover as of the end of June, 17 years after production began in April 2009, said Roh Tae Moon, CEO of Samsung Electronics.
At a meeting on Thursday in Hanoi, Roh Tae Moon told Vietnamese Prime Minister Le Minh Hung that Samsung began expanding large-scale investment in Vietnam in 2008, when its phone manufacturing plant project in Bac Ninh was licensed with an initial registered investment of $670 million. Production began in April 2009 and was later expanded with a similar plant in Thai Nguyen.
As of June 2025, the two plants had produced a total of 2 billion devices after 16 years of operations.
Samsung Electronics Vietnam Thai Nguyen (SEVT) plant in Thai Nguyen province, northern Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Vietnam News Agency.
In the first seven months of 2026, Samsung’s operations in Vietnam generated about $44 billion in revenue and about $39 billion in exports, maintaining double-digit growth.
Samsung’s manufacturing facilities in Vietnam currently account for about 50% of the group’s total global phone production. The group’s export figure was equivalent to about 12.2% of Vietnam’s total goods exports in the period ($319.53 billion).
The Galaxy Fold 8 smartphone, launched by Samsung in early August, has received strong interest in global markets, Roh Tae Moon said, adding the firm therefore expects to maintain double-digit growth through the end of the year.
According to him, Vietnam now handles not only phone production for Samsung but also the manufacturing of displays, electronic components, batteries, cameras, and home appliances. The group operates six manufacturing plants, an R&D center, and a sales entity in Bac Ninh, Thai Nguyen, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, with about 85,000 employees.
By the end of 2025, Samsung’s cumulative investment in Vietnam had reached about $24 billion. During the year, Samsung Vietnam recorded $64.9 billion in revenue and $57.1 billion in exports.
The four main manufacturing entities – Samsung Electronics Vietnam Thai Nguyen, Samsung Electronics Vietnam in Bac Ninh, Samsung Display Vietnam and Samsung Electronics HCMC CE Complex – posted combined revenue of about $62.1 billion in 2025, up 8%. Their combined net profit reached about $3.68 billion, up 12.2%.
In the first quarter of 2026, the four entities recorded combined revenue of nearly $17.7 billion, up 16.8% year-on-year, while their net profit was nearly $1.3 billion, more than double the figure in the first quarter of 2025. Samsung Electronics Vietnam Thai Nguyen alone recorded about $8.6 billion in revenue and about $709 million in net profit.
Samsung’s results were attributable not only to the group’s efforts but also to the attention, support and efforts to resolve difficulties and obstacles by Vietnam’s Party, State, Government, ministries, agencies and localities, Roh Tae Moon said.
Prime Minister Le Minh Hung (right) receives Roh Tae Moon, CEO of Samsung Electronics, in Hanoi on August 27, 2026. Photo courtesy of the government’s news portal.
Making Vietnam a Samsung hub for technology, R&D and innovation
The CEO emphasized that the group does not view Vietnam merely as a manufacturing base, but as an important strategic partner for jointly researching, developing and advancing high technology.
Roh Tae Moon stated Samsung plans to continue expanding R&D investment in high-tech fields while increasing support for Vietnam’s high-tech workforce training.
Samsung’s R&D center in Hanoi is expanding cooperation with major Vietnamese universities and allocating additional time and resources to strengthen technological capabilities and train talent. Going forward, the group said it would continue contributing to research and development, workforce training, and efforts to improve the competitiveness of Vietnamese businesses.
The Hanoi R&D center was inaugurated at the end of 2022 with an investment of about $220 million. It focuses on research into mobile devices, network systems and technologies including artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, and 5G.
The Samsung Innovation Campus high-tech talent development centers were also put into operation in Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen. The facilities provide practical training, research and workforce development for high-tech industries, including semiconductors.
To help Vietnamese companies participate more deeply in global supply chains, Roh said Samsung is working with the Ministry of Industry and Trade on programs to identify and develop suppliers, provide production improvement consulting, and train supporting-industry experts.
At the meeting, PM Hung said he highly valued Samsung’s substantive contributions to Vietnam’s industrial development, manufacturing, exports, job creation, and socioeconomic development. The cabinet leader said Vietnam had gradually become one of the key manufacturing hubs in Samsung’s global value chain.
He urged Samsung to continue identifying Vietnam as a long-term investment, manufacturing and business location, while maintaining and expanding investment and improving the quality, efficiency and spillover effects of its projects. The goal is to gradually transform Vietnam from a “manufacturing hub” into a “technology, R&D and innovation hub” for the group.
Samsung was also urged to increase the technology and innovation content of its projects, boost R&D investment, cooperate with research institutes and universities, train engineers, experts and high-quality workers, and transfer appropriate technologies and management expertise.
“The Vietnamese government pledges to maintain policy stability, improve the investment and business environment, ensure openness, transparency and fair competition, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors,” the PM stressed. It will also consider appropriate support mechanisms for Samsung’s strategic and high-tech projects within the framework of Vietnamese law, he added.