Samsung heir visits Vietnam to discuss possible investment plans

By Hoang Phong October 19, 2020 | 07:41 pm PT

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong speaks at the company's headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, June 23, 2015. Photo by Reuters.

Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong departed for Vietnam for a three-day visit to explore business opportunities.

He is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Tuesday to discuss possible investment plans and visit Samsung's plants in Hanoi, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported.

The focus will be on whether Lee announces new investment plans including the construction of a factory for electronic-car batteries in Vietnam, Bloomberg cited a source from Yonhap.

Lee is also expected to inspect the progress of a Samsung Electronics research center that is currently under construction in Hanoi, Korea Times reported.

Construction of the $220 million research and development center, the first of its kind outside South Korea, began last March.

It is Lee's first visit to Vietnam since October 2018. He is exempt from mandatory quarantine after the government scrapped the quarantine requirement for foreign managers, investors and diplomats visiting the country for less than 14 days.

Vietnam is Samsung's largest smartphone production base, with half of all its phones being made in the country at plants in Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen provinces in the north. It has invested over $17 billion in Vietnam so far.

It also has TV and home appliances plants in Ho Chi Minh City.