Samsung plots energy and insurance sector expansion

Samsung Vietnam’s general director Han Myoung Sup announced this last week when he met with Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son. He also informed the minister that following the successes of Samsung Electronics, many units of the South Korean conglomerate were interested in other sectors here, including insurance and energy.

Samsung will engage in Vietnam’s insurance industry through its Samsung Life, Samsung Fire, and Marine Insurance units. Meanwhile, the South Korean giant will deal with the oil and gas sectors through its Samsung Renewable Energy, Samsung Engineering, and Samsung C&T arms.

“We are looking into kicking off fresh investments,” Sup said.

He said that Samsung’s electronics facilities, based in the northern provinces of Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen, now employ over 110,000 workers. Since 2009, Samsung’s investment in these factories has amounted to $7 billion. The company is also looking to increase its engineering cadre at its Hanoi R&D centre to 5,000, up from its current head count of 1,400. Sup also said Samsung would spend another $3 billion on expanding its Samsung display plant in Bac Ninh, which was initially invested with $1 billion in 2014. In Ho Chi Minh City, the company has kicked off a Samsung electric appliance production complex worth $1.4 billion, which will be put into operation in the first quarter of next year.

According to Samsung Vietnam’s general director, in 2014, the group’s export value from Vietnam touched $26.3 billion, mostly from the electronics and related sectors. This accounted for 17.5 per cent of Vietnam’s total export turnover.

Sup noted that in addition to being known as Vietnam’s largest investor and exporter, he hopes the company is also seen as “Vietnam’s national enterprise”.