Samsung urged to back Hanoi in smart city development

Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Chu Ngoc Anh (right) meets with General Director of Samsung Vietnam Choi Joo Ho on January 15. (Photo: hanoi.gov.vn)

Hanoi - Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Chu Ngoc Anh suggested Samsung provide the city with technical support in developing smart city and smart transport and promoting digital transformation.

He made the suggestion during a January 14 meeting with the General Director of Samsung Vietnam, Choi Joo Ho, who paid a courtesy call to report on the Republic of Korea (RoK) company’s projects in Hanoi.

Choi said that work on Samsung’s Research & Development (R&D) Centre in Hanoi started last March and is on schedule, with 23 percent completed.

Once opened, the centre will employ about 3,000 tech engineers primarily responsible for developing software, the 5G network, artificial intelligence (AI), and Big Data, he said, adding that this will contribute to economic growth in Hanoi and Vietnam at large.

Samsung Vietnam is committed to strictly complying with local regulations and ensuring workplace safety. He also asked for continued support from local authorities so the R&D centre will be finished by the end of 2022, as planned.

Anh pledged to create all possible conditions for Samsung to speed up progress and quickly put the centre into operation.

As Hanoi aims to stay ahead of other cities and provinces in science-technology and innovation and become more competitive regionally, the chairman said he expects Samsung to share its tech solutions in multiple areas, including 5G and Big Data, to support the capital in smart city and smart transport efforts and accelerate digital transformation.

Samsung Electronics Vietnam’s 16-storey R&D Centre, its largest in Southeast Asia, will cover a total area of over 11,600 ha in the new town of Tay Ho Tay in Hanoi’s west.

This is the first time Samsung Electronics has built its own centre for R&D activities overseas. It is also the largest R&D centre among FDI companies in Vietnam.

It is estimated to cost about 220 million USD.