Samsung advances US$1.5bn Vietnam chip testing plant for 2027
Samsung’s first chip testing plant in Vietnam is planned for Thai Nguyen, with a 2027 launch and capacity for DRAM and NAND memory checks.
- Samsung is building a $1.5 billion semiconductor testing plant in Vietnam's Thai Nguyen province, with operations scheduled to begin in November 2027.
- The facility, Samsung's first of its kind in Vietnam, will test mature memory chips (DRAM and NAND) to address supply shortages caused by rising AI-related demand.
- Vietnamese authorities approved the investment in March, and construction on the site has already started.
- Once operational, the factory is projected to have an annual testing capacity of 153.3 billion gigabits of DRAM and 255.6 billion gigabits of NAND chips.
Samsung Electronics is moving ahead with a plan to build a semiconductor testing plant in Vietnam, with investment set at 39 trillion dong, or about US$1.5 billion, according to a proposal document reviewed by Reuters.
The facility is being developed in an industrial park in Thai Nguyen province, roughly 60 kilometres north of Hanoi. The document, which was sent to local authorities in April, showed that construction has already started and that the plant is expected to begin operations in November 2027.
The project would be Samsung’s first chip testing facility in Vietnam. It is intended to support memory chip supply at a time when rising demand from AI data centre operators has squeezed availability for industries including smartphones, laptops and automobiles.
The proposal said the plant would handle mature memory chips. These are not the most critical products for AI supply chains, but they have also become scarce as major manufacturers allocate more production capacity to AI-related chips.
Once operational, the factory is projected to deliver an annual testing capacity of 153.3 billion gigabits of dynamic random-access memory, or DRAM, and 255.6 billion gigabits of NAND memory chips. The figures were included in the proposal submitted as part of the environmental permit process for the site.
The investment amount, planned capacity and production schedule had not previously been reported. Samsung declined to comment, while the People’s Committee of Thai Nguyen province did not respond to a request for comment.
Vietnamese authorities approved the investment in March, the document showed. Samsung also intends to reinvest profits from the project, “if any”, up to about US$2.5 billion for a possible second factory.
It is still unclear whether all required permits have been granted or whether discussions with authorities are continuing. In Vietnam, companies often start early ground works at construction sites before environmental approvals are completed.
A person briefed on the matter said more than 200 Samsung engineers and staff had been working at the project site since at least April. The person declined to be identified because the information is private.
Reuters reporters who visited the site this week saw heavy construction vehicles and workers there. A security guard also confirmed that the area would be used for a Samsung semiconductor plant.
Samsung, the South Korean group, is already Vietnam’s largest foreign investor, with commitments of more than US$23 billion over several decades across multiple sites. The new facility is being built next to a major Samsung Electronics complex that makes smartphones and tablets.
Vietnam has become an important base for the semiconductor back-end industry, which is more labour-intensive and less technically complex than chip fabrication. The country already hosts assembly, packaging and testing operations for multinational companies including Intel, Amkor Technology and Hana Micron.
Chip testing is the final stage of the production process. It involves checking semiconductors that have already been assembled and packaged for possible defects before they are shipped, according to the document.
Reuters
