Another plant in Vietnam looks likely for Samsung Electronics

Samsung Electronics is close to receiving a license to build a second smartphone factory and investing as much as $3 billion north of Hanoi as the company increasingly turns to Vietnam as a manufacturing hub.

The project will be approved as early as tomorrow and would bring Samsung’s total investment in Thai Nguyen province to $6.4 billion, Duong Ngoc Long, chairman of the local People’s Committee, said yesterday.

Samsung, maker of the Galaxy line of smartphones, confirmed it’s in talks with the government, though it said $3 billion represents the maximum investment amount.

The growing difficulties of operating in China, as well as Vietnam’s low-cost labor and generous tax benefits, are attracting technology companies, said Lam Nguyen, Ho Chi Minh City-based country director at International Data Corp. Bloomberg