Samsung is one of the recognizable firms in South Korea, but its smartphone production tells a distinct story.
Although Samsung is headquartered in South Korea, almost half of the smartphones it sells worldwide are manufactured in Vietnam.
Since opening its first factory there in 2008, the corporate has transformed Vietnam into the most important smartphone production center, accounting for about 45-50% of world production.
One factory in 2009, six in 2025
Samsung opened its first mobile manufacturing plant in Bac Ninh Province in 2009.
In the next years, the corporate developed rapidly. In 2013, Samsung established its second major smartphone production complex in Thai Nguyen with an initial investment of $2 billion, which was subsequently expanded.
It later strengthened its presence by opening a $220 million research and development (R&D) center in Hanoi in 2022.
Since 2025, Samsung has invested roughly $23.2 billion in Vietnam, operating six manufacturing plants, one research and development (R&D) center and one sales entity in Bac Ninh, Thai Nguyen, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
The scale of production reflects this investment. By mid-2025, Samsung’s two important smartphone factories in Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen have collectively produced the two billionth phone since launch, a milestone that highlights how central Vietnam has turn out to be to the corporate’s global manufacturing.
Why Vietnam: Geography, Labor and Government Policy
Several aspects have contributed to Vietnam’s rise as Samsung’s important smartphone manufacturing base.
One of them was geography. Northern Vietnam is near southern China, where many suppliers of electronic components are concentrated. This proximity allows components to be hurried to Vietnamese assembly plants while keeping transportation costs and delivery times low.
Another factor was labor costs. In the late twenty first century and early twenty first century, wages within the manufacturing sector in Vietnam were much lower than in China.
Some industry estimates put labor costs in Vietnam at roughly one-third of China’s, making the country a horny place for labor-intensive smartphone assembly while providing access to a big manufacturing workforce.
The third factor was the investment environment in Vietnam. Since the late twenty first century, the Vietnamese government has actively encouraged foreign direct investment through industrial parks, tax incentives, and infrastructure development.
As the most important single source of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam and one in every of the country’s largest exporters, Samsung has established close working relationships with each national and provincial governments.
These partnerships have been instrumental in supporting the corporate’s continued expansion across multiple provinces.
What Samsung means for the Vietnamese economy
As Samsung’s operations expanded, Vietnam became increasingly depending on and shaped by the corporate’s presence.
By the top of 2025, Samsung Viet recorded an export turnover of USD 57.1 billion, and its 4 important subsidiaries based in Vietnam recorded a combined net profit of USD 3.68 billion, up 12.2% year-on-year (YoY).
Their combined revenues accounted for about 13% of Vietnam’s total export value of $475 billion in 2025.
The company also supports an intensive network of local suppliers. In 2014, the variety of Vietnamese firms in Samsung’s global supply chain was 25. By the top of 2025, the number had reached 257, reflecting the deepening integration of Samsung’s operations with Vietnam’s domestic production base.
From assembly to chip testing
Currently, Vietnam’s role in Samsung’s business goes beyond smartphone assembly. Samsung has expanded into higher-value businesses, including display manufacturing, research and development, and now semiconductor testing.
Samsung plans to take a position $1.5 billion to construct its first semiconductor chip testing facility in Vietnam, situated in an industrial park in Thai Nguyen province, about 60 kilometers north of Hanoi. Construction is already underway and operations are scheduled to start in November 2027.
The facility is a test facility slightly than a production facility. Instead of manufacturing recent boards, it would check finished memory chips for defects before shipping.
Sixteen years, two billion phones and the countdown
What began as a single cellular phone factory in 2009 has evolved into one in every of Samsung’s most strategically vital overseas operations.
Samsung’s operations in Vietnam accounted for about 26.5% of the group’s global revenue and 11.6% of its total profits in 2025, putting Vietnam within the highlight.
For most Galaxy users world wide, the device they hold of their hands was made not in South Korea, but in Vietnam.
