South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd has secured a licence to invest $3 billion to expand its production in northern Vietnam, the Vietnamese government said.

The licence was awarded on Nov. 17 in Thai Nguyen province, where Samsung Electronics has been operating a $2 billion smartphone plant, the government said in a statement issued late on Monday, without giving further details of the project.

Samsung Electronics has said it plans to invest up to $3 billion in its handset business in Vietnam as part of its strategy to cut costs and better compete with Chinese rivals.