Samsung Plans $1.5B Chip Testing Plant in Vietnam

According to official project documents submitted to local authorities, Samsung Electronics is planning to invest approximately 39 trillion Vietnamese dong (around USD 1.5 billion) to build a semiconductor testing facility in Vietnam. The expansion is expected to help ease global memory chip supply constraints driven by surging artificial intelligence demand.

The proposal, filed in April, shows that construction has already begun at an industrial park located about 60 kilometers north of Hanoi. The facility is scheduled to commence operations in November 2027.

This will be Samsung’s first semiconductor testing plant in Vietnam. The investment comes at a time when strong demand from AI data centers is significantly tightening the supply of memory chips, creating ripple effects across industries such as smartphones, laptops, and automotive electronics.

The documents indicate that the facility will focus on mature-node semiconductor products. Although these chips are not central to AI chip supply chains, they are also experiencing shortages as leading manufacturers allocate more capacity toward advanced AI-related production.

Based on the environmental permit application, the new plant is expected to have an annual output capacity of 153.3 billion gigabits (Gb) of DRAM and an additional 255.6 billion Gb of NAND flash memory.

The project is described as a key downstream hub in the semiconductor value chain, focusing on back-end processing and testing operations. According to filings submitted for environmental approval, Vietnam’s authorities approved the investment in March. Samsung also plans to reinvest up to approximately USD 2.5 billion in potential profits to support the development of a second similar facility, depending on project performance.

While it remains unclear whether all regulatory approvals have been fully finalized, early site activity suggests construction is already underway. In Vietnam, it is common for companies to begin preliminary groundwork while environmental clearance is still in progress.

Since April, more than 200 Samsung engineers and staff have reportedly been deployed to the site, where heavy construction activity and equipment operation are ongoing. Local security personnel have also confirmed that the area is designated for a Samsung semiconductor facility.

Samsung is currently the largest foreign investor in Vietnam, with cumulative investments exceeding USD 23 billion over several decades across multiple manufacturing projects. The new testing facility will be located near its existing large-scale production complexes for smartphones and tablets.

Vietnam has also emerged as an important hub in the global semiconductor back-end industry. Compared with wafer fabrication, chip assembly and testing are more labor-intensive and require lower technical barriers. As a result, several multinational companies, including Intel, Amkor Technology, and Hana Micron, have established assembly, packaging, and testing operations in the country.

Chip testing represents the final stage of semiconductor manufacturing, where completed and packaged chips undergo defect detection and quality verification before being released for shipment.