Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) is building a large-scale semiconductor test fab in Vietnam as part of a strategy to diversify export bases and meet surging memory chip demand driven by the expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure. The plan calls for establishing test fabs abroad, which have been concentrated in Korea, to broaden the export bases from which the company can reliably supply memory to global customers.
According to Samsung Electronics documents submitted to the Thai Nguyen Provincial People's Committee and obtained by The Seoul Economic Daily on Oct. 5, the company established Samsung Vietnam Semiconductor (SVS), a back-end chip unit, in Vietnam in March and is constructing a semiconductor test fab in the CN-11 and CN-12 zones of the Yen Binh Industrial Park in Thai Nguyen.
The site is located in the same complex as Samsung Electronics' smartphone production facilities and covers 265,895 square meters, equivalent to 37 soccer fields. The Yen Binh industrial park has a logistics network linking arterial roads to Noi Bai International Airport and seaports. Industrial infrastructure is also in place, including water facilities with capacity of 150,000 cubic meters a day and wastewater treatment facilities handling 80,000 cubic meters a day.
Total investment in the Vietnam fabs, planned in two phases, comes to 105.7944 trillion dong (about 5.48 trillion won, or approximately 3.9 billion dollars). Of that, funding from Samsung affiliates accounts for 34.6% and investor contributions 2.5%. The remaining 66.6401 trillion dong (about 3.45 trillion won) will be covered by reinvesting profits once the local business becomes profitable. That means Samsung intends to expand and grow its Vietnam chip business in stages without borrowing from financial institutions.
The production timeline has also been set. The first-floor production line (V1) at Samsung Vietnam Semiconductor's No. 1 plant will begin receiving equipment in July next year and start official operation in the fourth quarter of the same year. The second-floor line (V2) will receive equipment in May 2028 and begin operating in October that year.
Unlike front-end fabs that etch memory circuits onto wafers, a semiconductor test fab is the final gateway where packaged DRAM and NAND chips undergo last inspections before shipment to customers. Electrical signals are fed into the memory to check whether data is read and written at normal speeds, and the chips are verified for errors under harsh conditions such as high temperatures and high voltage. Defective products are screened out in this process, and only products that pass quality standards are shipped to customers.
Behind Samsung Electronics' move to build memory test fabs overseas is a strategy to strengthen supply chain resilience by diversifying export routes. The aim is to minimize supply disruptions by having Vietnam absorb some export volume even if unexpected variables such as labor disputes, disasters or accidents occur at the Cheonan and Onyang campuses, the company's domestic test bases. In particular, with tariff policies in the United States and other major countries changing frequently, securing a separate export base in Vietnam will allow Samsung to flexibly adjust shipping routes depending on where customers are located.
With this investment as a springboard, Samsung's global chip supply chain is being reshaped into a more layered structure with roles divided by process. Advanced memory front-end fabs are expanding around domestic bases including Pyeongtaek, Yongin and Gwangju in Jeonnam, while foundry fabs are centered on Texas in the United States to better serve global big tech customers. Back-end fabs, meanwhile, are now being built in Thai Nguyen, Vietnam, following those in Cheonan, Onyang and Suzhou, China.
One reason Vietnam was chosen as a chip production site is that Samsung Electronics has spent more than a decade building a dense manufacturing and logistics infrastructure there. Samsung Electronics has operated a smartphone plant in Thai Nguyen since 2013 and home appliance production facilities in Ho Chi Minh City since 2015. Samsung SDS (018260.KS) runs ALS SDS, an air logistics joint venture connecting its Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City logistics bases with Noi Bai International Airport.
Samsung's business in Vietnam is also expanding rapidly into the AI chip value chain after Samsung Electro-Mechanics (009150.KS) decided last month to build a production facility for AI chip package substrates (FC-BGA) at the Yen Binh industrial park in Thai Nguyen, with an investment of 2.51 trillion won.
Joo Seung-hwan, a professor at Inha University's Graduate School of Manufacturing Innovation, said Samsung Electronics' Vietnam operations are "transforming from an assembly base for smartphones and home appliances reliant on low wages into a core pillar of the AI chip supply chain." He added, "It appears to be a plan to concentrate high value-added products on which Samsung's future depends, such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM), in Cheonan and Onyang, while shifting commodity memory to Vietnam."
Samsung Electronics is also moving quickly to train local workers to ensure stable mass production at the Vietnam test fab. Since July, the company has dispatched 103 Vietnamese engineers to its Cheonan and Onyang sites for hands-on semiconductor training. Using Samsung's new engineer development program (SEED), the company is securing in advance the process and equipment operation personnel needed to run the Vietnam fab. It is the first time Vietnamese workers have received SEED training at a domestic Samsung chip site, according to sources.
The trainees hold engineering degrees and have experience working at Samsung's smartphone production base in Vietnam. At the Cheonan and Onyang sites, they are paired with Samsung's semiconductor engineers in mentor-mentee relationships and are learning memory test processes and equipment operation know-how while experiencing actual production lines. They will later return to Vietnam to lead the initial construction and production stabilization of the local test fab.
