Intel Corporation, the world’s largest semiconductor chip maker, will open its 1 billion USD chip assembly and testing facility in Vietnam by the end of this month, an executive said. Intel’s investment in Vietnam is aimed at tapping growth opportunities in emerging Asia , Navin Shenoy, Intel’s general manager for Asia-Pacific, was quoted by The Wall Street Journal as saying on Oct. 14.

Intel’s investment in Vietnam is aimed at tapping growth opportunities in emerging Asia , Navin Shenoy, Intel’s general manager for Asia-Pacific, was quoted by The Wall Street Journal as saying on Oct. 14.

"We expect Asia ’s PC market to continue to grow by more than 20 percent annually in the next few years. We definitely will continue to invest in Asia where we see growth," he said.

Intel Corp., the first major foreign investor in high technology in Vietnam, started construction of the Vietnam facility in 2007, and 4,000 people are expected to employ for the plant, according to the paper.

The Vietnam facility is Intel’s seventh assembly and test site. Other sites include Penang and Kulim in Malaysia, Cavite in the Philippines, Chengdu and Shanghai in China, and San Jose in Costa Rica.

Shenoy said that China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam are important markets of the US chip maker in Asia, which has a young population and a low PC penetration rate. He added while the company is seeing relatively weak sentiment in the US and European consumer markets, Asian customers and enterprises continue to buy PCs.

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