Samsung invests $1.8 billion more in Vietnam for OLED manufacturing plant

South Korean electronic manufacturer Samsung Display Co plans to invest $1.8 billion for a factory this year in northern Vietnam to produce OLED displays for automobiles and technology equipment, the Southeast Asian country said on Sunday.

Samsung’s ew plant in Vietnam

The new facility for manufacturing organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays will be situated in the Yen Phong industrial park in Bac Ninh province, east of Hanoi, and in proximity to an existing Samsung electronics plant. This information was shared in a statement from the government following a meeting between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Choi Joo Ho, the General Director of Samsung Vietnam.

Bac Ninh authorities and Samsung Display on Sunday also signed a memorandum of understanding of the project, local media reported, adding the investment would raise Samsung's total investment in Bac Ninh to $8.3 billion from the current $6.5 billion.

Vietnam has over the last decade emerged as one of the most attractive production hubs for electronics companies.

According to Choi, Samsung has established six manufacturing plants, one research and development center, and one sales entity in Vietnam, with a cumulative investment of $22.4 billion.

Samsung stock prices fell

By Sept. 13, the Samsung share price had fallen by 26.4%, from 87,600 won to 64,400 won. This rate of decline was more than double the 10.9% slide in the KOSPI over the same period. Samsung Electronics’ market capitalization has dropped by more than 100 trillion won in just over a month, a sharp decline compared to the six months it took to gain the same amount earlier this year. SK Hynix also saw its market cap fall by more than 30 trillion won during the same period.

As of Sept. 20, Samsung Electronics’ market cap stood at 366 trillion won, down from 478 trillion won on Aug. 16—a loss of 102 trillion won over 23 trading days, according to the Korea Exchange. Samsung’s share of the KOSPI index shrank to 17.78%, its lowest level since September 2022.

By contrast, it took Samsung Electronics 117 trading days, from Jan. 17 to July 9, to increase its market cap by 100 trillion won, reaching a peak of 524 trillion won.

As a factor in this recent decline of Samsung’s earning, analysts have pointed to predictions that Samsung Electronics’ third-quarter performance would be worse than expected. This came after improved semiconductor performance led to an “earning surprise” in second-quarter operation profits, which were provisionally calculated at 10.4 trillion won — an increase of 1,452.2% compared with the same period in 2023.

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