LG Innotek Pledges $1 Billion for Expansion of Vietnam Camera Module Plant

LG Innotek announced a massive $1 billion investment towards expanding its camera module plant in Vietnam, aiming to double its production capacity. The plan positions the company to potentially meet an anticipated surge in demand from Apple.

LG Innotek will build a new production factory for advanced camera modules and other optical products. The new plant will rise in Haip Hong, a major port city in Vietnam.

The company said on Monday, June 26, that the new facility will be completed in the last quarter of 2024. Subsequently, the production of camera modules and optical products will begin in 2025, according to Korea Joongang Daily.

The products will mainly be used for smartphones, but LG Innotek could also produce items for other devices. The company has yet to share the exact specifications of the camera modules it intends to make in the new Vietnamese plant.

Once in operation, LG Innotek will double its production capacity based on the current level. It was mentioned that this would be the Seoul-based firm's largest manufacturing location outside of South Korea. In any case, some business observers think that LG Innotek's latest expansion in Vietnam was due to an anticipated larger order volume from Apple.

Aju Business Daily reported that the company's existing plant in the region employs around 3,500 people; thus, the number will increase once the new factory is completed. The Korean electronic component manufacturing company also shared that the KRW1.3 billion or about $994 million investment is set to be made by its Vietnamese unit from July 2023 to December 2025.

"We will continue to focus on creating differentiated customer values through consistent investment," Chung Cheol Dong, LG Innotek's chief executive officer, said in a statement on Monday. "We are upgrading our domestic and foreign supply chains to improve our global business capacity."

Photo by: LG Corp. Media Center