Some 130,000 of Samsung’s 150,000 information technology (IT) and mobile telecommunications (IM) employees, or 86.6 per cent, are working in Vietnam, Mr. Shin Jong Kyun, CEO of Samsung, told Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan during their meeting in Hanoi on May 6.

Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan and Samsung CEO Shin Jong Kyun.

He added that, of the 130,000, nearly 120,000 are Vietnamese at the electronic giant’s three IT complexes in Vietnam: Samsung Electronics Vietnam in northern Bac Ninh province, Samsung Electronics Vietnam Thai Nguyen (SEVT) in northern Thai Nguyen province, and the Samsung CE Complex in Ho Chi Minh City. The three complexes have combined investment capital of $10 billion.

It also employs nearly 1,500 technicians at the Samsung Vietnam Mobile R&D center in Hanoi, which is expected to employ 5,000 staff in the near future.

Samsung Vietnam’s turnover in 2015 reached $32 billion.

According to Mr. Shin, the Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen complexes are to turn out 200 million smartphones this year for export to 52 countries and territories around the world, chiefly to the EU, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and the US.

Mr. Shin was also welcomed to Vietnam by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who spoke highly of its increased investment in the country and expressed a hope that it would raise its investment capital and build more R&D centers of larger scale not only in electronics but also in other sectors such as energy, infrastructure, ports, science and technology, and healthcare.

The PM assured Mr. Shin of the Vietnamese Government’s commitment to creating favorable conditions for foreign investors, including Samsung.