Samsung exported US$33.5 billion worth of product from Vietnam in the first seven months of the year, Tuoi Tre has reported. This is the equivalent of around 14.73 percent of Vietnam’s total exports and about 46.42 percent of Vietnam’s exports of mobile phones and computers.
The arrival of Samsung back in 2008 heralded a significant shift in the manufacturing sector with the South Korean mobile phone behemoth transforming Vietnam’s northern provinces into an epicentre of electronics manufacturing.
That said, whereas Samsung has created thousands of jobs in Vietnam the majority are in low-value assembly rather than high-value research and development. Vietnam has pushed the firm to help Vietnam to move up the supply chain most recently in semiconductor chip development but there have been reports that, at least in semiconductor production, Samsung has been reluctant.
See also: Vietnam’s Semiconductor Manufacturing Ambitions: Unpacked