Samsung eyes role in Vietnam’s insurance, energy, fuel sectors

Other subsidiaries of the Seoul-based firm want to join the Vietnamese energy, life insurance, and oil and gas sectors, Samsung Vietnam general director Han Myoung Sup said in a meeting with Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son in Hanoi.

Those interested firms are working to turn such investment plans into reality, Han added.

Samsung Electronics started its Vietnam operation in January 1995 and has since grown into the biggest foreign investor in the Southeast Asian country.

In the meantime, Vietnam has also become the “biggest overseas production base” of Samsung, Dang Xuan Quang, deputy head of the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, told a conference in Hanoi on July 31.

The South Korean electronics behemoth operates one major production complex each in Thai Nguyen and Bac Ninh Provinces, both located in northern Vietnam and into which Samsung has channeled a total of US$7.5 billion worth of investment.

There are now more than 110,000 employees at these two production bases, Han revealed at the meeting.

The Thai Nguyen and Bac Ninh complexes last year collectively exported $26.3 billion worth of mobile phones and parts, accounting for 17.5 percent of the country’s total export revenue.

Samsung Vietnam also runs a research and development center in Hanoi with more than 1,400 employees and has plans to increase the workforce to 5,000 in the future, according to the general director.

In Ho Chi Minh City, the South Korean firm is constructing a screen-making facility at the Saigon Hi-Tech Park, which is expected to become operational, and generate around 20,000 jobs, by the first quarter of 2016.

Samsung is planning to increase its total investment in Vietnam to $20 billion in 2017 from the current $13 billion.

Vietnamese Minister of Information and Communications Son hailed the impressive performance of Samsung in the country, adding the company has contributed greatly to Vietnam’s development.

The official showed his support for further cooperation between Samsung and Vietnamese agencies and businesses, not only in the electronics sector but also the fields of aviation infrastructure, oil and gas, life insurance and energy.

Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance are the insurance units of Samsung Group.

The South Korean conglomerate operates in the energy and oil and gas sectors through the Samsung Engineering and Samsung C&T arms.