WASHINGTON, May 2 (Bernama-Sputnik) - US companies are looking to address supply chain threats by ensuring an expanded supply of microchips in part by investing in their production in Vietnam, probably in partnership with South Korea, US Ambassador in Hanoi Marc Knapper said on Monday.
Knapper made the comment during a meeting at the Korea Economic Institute of America, reported Sputnik.
"There is a lot of interest in the CHIPS Act [and in] what it can manufacture there. The United States is Vietnam's top export market," Knapper said. "We have a very powerful triangular trade. There is a lot going on, especially in terms of business."
The US ambassador noted that the United States and Vietnam record an annual bilateral trade volume of US$130 billion, making Vietnam the eighth largest US trading partner in the world.
In addition, Knapper said 70 per cent of South Korea's Samsung Industries phones that are sold in the United States are made in Vietnam, as are components for Boeing 737 jets.
In July 2022, Congress passed the CHIPS Act to strengthen domestic semiconductor manufacturing and reinforce the United States microchip supply chains.
The share of modern semiconductor manufacturing capacity located in the United States has fallen from 37 per cent in 1990 to 12 per cent today, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. - Bernama-Sputnik
