Samsung Building R&D Center in Vietnam
Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong visited Samsung Electronics Ho Chi Minh City Complex (SEHC) on Oct. 21. SEHC is located in the Saigon High-Tech Park, where Samsung Electronics manufactures consumer electronics. In 2010, Intel built a semiconductor plant in the park by investing US$1 billion. Approximately 5,000 Intel engineers are engaged in post-processing inspection in the plant.
Lee visited SEHC after Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc made an investment request. The prime minister made the request because Intel is currently in dilemma. These days, the global semiconductor industry is being led by fabless and fablite companies such as AMD and Nvidia. Those companies can concentrate their resources on chip design and development as they have no or almost no fabrication facilities.
Meanwhile, Intel, an integrated device manufacturer, is having a hard time optimizing its microfabrication processes below the 10-nm level. In the meantime, AMD beat Intel by manufacturing CPU chips based on TSMC’s 7-nm process technology. Intel CEO Bob Swan recently said that his company may work with an external foundry for 7-nm processes and below.
The Vietnamese government is working on Plan B after the announced change in production strategy. This is because the packaging and inspection role of the plant of Intel in Vietnam may decrease along with Intel’s in-house chip production volume.
The prime minister proposed incentives for Samsung Electronic such as designating SEHC as an Export Processing Enterprise (EPE). Various tax incentives, including tariff incentives, are provided for EPE companies. Samsung’s current plan is to complete the construction of a 3,000-staff R&D center in Vietnam by 2022 rather than complying with the investment request.