Local and foreign chip manufacturers flee China, expand in Vietnam — companies move to Southeast Asia as US-China tensions simmer

Hana Micron, a South Korean firm specializing in assembly, testing, and packaging (ATP) of semiconductors, is expanding its presence in Vietnam after some of its customers requested the company move production away from China. Because of this, Reuters reports, the company is investing 1.3 trillion South Korean Won (approximately $923.5 million) for the next couple of years to boost its packaging output of legacy memory chips.

The primary chip packaging companies—Amkor Technology, Hana Micron, and Intel—have poured billions of dollars into Vietnam to increase their back-end manufacturing capacity. Beijing and Washington trade words and sanctions over global and regional strategic goals, including a race in semiconductor manufacturing and AI technologies.

In addition, U.S. firm Amkor Technology is spending $1.6 billion building a million-square-foot campus—the company’s most extensive and advanced facility—that will deliver “next-generation semiconductor packaging capabilities.” One source familiar with the matter even said that some of the equipment the company will install in the new factory comes from some of its factories in China. However, the company hasn’t officially confirmed this. Aside from them, Intel’s largest back-end facility is also located in Vietnam.

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