The Samsung group will add 600 million USD to the 1.4-billion-USD Samsung HCMC CE Complex (SEHC) at Ho Chi Minh City-based Saigon Hi-tech Park (SHTP).

Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong (R) grants a licence for the investment adjustment.

Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong granted a licence for the investment adjustment for the Republic of Korea ’s conglomerate on December 29.

The extra investment will be allocated to the building of an electronic test laboratory and a warranty facility within the 70-hectare complex.

According to Chairman Phong, the project is forecast to contribute about 20 percent of the city’s export value and facilitate the development of support industries, domestic supply chain and local human resources.

Once operational, it will also help increase local content in the city’s hi-tech products, he said.

Samsung has vowed to raise local content of its made in Vietnam products to 35 percent before 2020.

The first phase of the SEHC project has been completed, including the construction of an administrative building and an EPS factory, SHTP Director Le Hoai Quoc noted.

It will be put into operation in February next year and employ approximately 7,000 workers by 2020, Quoc added.

The complex will be a base for Samsung’s research and development (R&D) activities and manufacturing hi-tech electronic products, such as Smart, LCD and LED TVs.

Samsung first invested in Vietnam in 1995 but made itself known in recent years with its construction of two hi-tech complexes to produce mobile devices and components in Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen provinces with a combined investment of 7.5 billion USD.

The two facilities together exported over 26.25 billion USD worth of products last year.

VNA