Intel Group on October 29 officially inaugurated its micro-chip plant in Hồ Chí Minh City’s Hi-tech Park, the biggest in the world and the first semiconductor plant in Việt Nam.

The plant, invested with US $1 billion and built for four years, will churn out chipset for laptops and other mobile devices.

In its initial phase of operation, the plant expects to earn an export value of US $120 million/year.

However, Intel is planning to raise the plant’s capacity to 820 million products per year and pocket the revenue of US $5-15 billion in the next stages.

At the inauguration ceremony, Vietnamese Deputy PM Hoàng Trung Hải remarked that the plant’s debut is an important event marking a new success in restructuring the national economy towards hi-tech industries in Việt Nam.

Mr. Hải took the occasion to hail Intel for its assistance to educational reform and the building of a powerful IT system in Việt Nam.

“A special impression today is the presence of a large number of Vietnamese workers, managers and technicians who all experienced Intel’s standard training programs in Việt Nam and abroad,” said the Deputy PM.

Meanwhile, Intel CEO Paul Otellini confidently said that the Việt Nam chipset plant will be an important contribution to the group’s success.

He also mentioned some recent agreements signed between Intel and Vietnamese partners on e-Government development, education, and computer application.

It was reported that Intel Việt Nam has just inked with the Ministry of Information and Communications a 10-year computerization program to popularize computers and Internet access to 80% of Vietnamese households.