Vietnam is intensifying its bid to become a major Asian technology hub, with President To Lam urging both Qualcomm and Samsung Electronics to significantly deepen investment across AI, semiconductors, robotics, data centers, telecommunications and R&D.
Qualcomm Eyeing Vietnam As Third-Largest AI R&D Hub
To Lam met Qualcomm chief executive Cristiano Amon this week and pressed the U.S. chipmaker to grow beyond its existing Hanoi engineering center. According to the Vietnamese government, Amon said Qualcomm wants Vietnam to become its third-largest AI R&D hub globally, behind only its U.S. and Indian centers. Qualcomm already runs joint projects with Vietnamese technology firms and has been evaluating expanded chip design and connectivity work.
Samsung Asked To Integrate More Vietnamese Suppliers
The Vietnamese leader also met Samsung Electronics chief executive Roh Tae-moon, urging the group — one of the country's largest foreign investors — to deepen technology investment and pull more Vietnamese suppliers into its global manufacturing and R&D network. Roh said Samsung planned additional investment and training programs.
From Assembly To Higher-Value Engineering
The push reflects a broader restructuring of Asia's technology supply chain as governments compete to attract semiconductor design, electronics manufacturing, AI research and data-center infrastructure diversifying away from China. Vietnam is one of the strongest beneficiaries but wants to move beyond low-margin assembly. Hanoi's outreach comes as Samsung is preparing a second Taylor foundry fab in Texas and as chipmakers everywhere hunt capacity for AI accelerators, echoing Xiaomi's 3nm Xring O3 push.
Reporting based on Reuters coverage.