Intel to open $1Bln Vietnam plant this month

Intel Corporation, the world’s largest semiconductor chip maker and the first major foreign investor in high technology in Vietnam,that it will open its $1 billion chip assembly and testing facility in Vietnam by the end of this month.

Intel Corporation, the world’s largest semiconductor chip maker and the first major foreign investor in high technology in Vietnam, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on October 14 that it will open its $1 billion chip assembly and testing facility in Vietnam by the end of this month, an executive said, in a move that will help the chip maker tap growth opportunities in emerging Asia.

“We expect Asia’s PC market to continue to grow by more than 20% annually in the next few years. We definitely will continue to invest in Asia where we see growth,” Navin Shenoy, Intel’s general manager for Asia-Pacific, told Dow Jones Newswires in a recent interview.

Shenoy said while the company is seeing relatively weak sentiment in the U.S. and European consumer markets, Asian customers and enterprises continue to buy PCs.

“Asia has a young population and a low PC penetration rate. China, India, Southeast Asia such as Indonesia and Vietnam are important markets,” said Shenoy.

Intel, which announced plans for the Vietnam facility in 2006, started construction in 2007, and noted that the 500,000-square feet plant would eventually employ as many as 4,000 people. The Vietnam facility is Intel’s seventh assembly and test site. Other sites include Penang and Kulim, Malaysia; Cavite, Philippines; Chengdu and Shanghai, China; and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Intel reported more than $11 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time in the third quarter. 58% of its third-quarter revenue came from the Asia-Pacific region which rose 20% to a record $6.40 billion, compared with $5.32 billion a year earlier.

Earlier, Hewlett-Packard(HP), one of the world’s largest information technology companies, said that it was setting up an $18 million software company at Quang Trung Software Park in Ho Chi Minh City. – WSJ

Tags: Intel Chip Plant, Intel Vietnam