Shaping a next-generation FDI attraction strategy.

In recent years, Phu Tho province has emerged as a new growth hub for attracting foreign direct investment (FDI). Its advantageous location as a gateway connecting the Northwest region with Hanoi and the Northern key economic zone, along with significant improvements in the investment and business environment, has increased the province's attractiveness to international corporations. The rapid growth of FDI not only promotes industrial development, expands exports, and creates jobs, but also provides crucial impetus for the modernization of the economic structure and enhances the province's competitiveness within the regional production chain.

The model of the operational, commercial, and service center of the Nam Binh Xuyen Green Park Industrial Zone project.

Breakthrough in the scale and quality of FDI flows.

Currently, Phu Tho has 734 active FDI projects with a total registered capital of approximately US$12.8 billion, making it one of the major investment attraction centers in the northern midland and mountainous region. This scale demonstrates the province's strong transformation in the process of industrialization and international economic integration.

Many large-scale projects by corporations such as Toyota, Honda, BYD, and JNTC have created large-scale industrial production capacity, providing stable employment for hundreds of thousands of workers. Notably, the province's FDI structure has shifted positively towards high-tech and green industries; the electronics and components sector alone has accounted for over 60% of total FDI attracted in the last five years, becoming the main driver of local growth.

In the first four months of 2026 alone, Phu Tho attracted over US$1.2 billion in FDI, reaching approximately 75% of the year's target and showing a significant increase compared to the same period last year. This result reflects the increasingly clear trend of international businesses shifting their investments to localities with advantageous infrastructure, competitive costs, and abundant industrial land.

According to experts, Phu Tho's success in attracting FDI in recent years is closely linked to improving the investment environment, accelerating administrative procedure reforms, and enhancing governance capacity. The province consistently adheres to the principle of accompanying businesses, using the effectiveness of service and the level of investor satisfaction as a measure of governance capacity.

Industrial parks continue to play a driving role in growth and are key to attracting international investment. Many industrial parks, such as Phu Ha, Cam Khe, Ba Thien, and Binh Xuyen, have been invested in with comprehensive technical infrastructure, meeting the requirements of large manufacturing corporations. For example, Phu Ha Industrial Park has attracted 28 secondary FDI projects with a total capital of nearly US$1.3 billion, creating jobs for tens of thousands of local workers. Not only does the FDI sector contribute significantly to increasing industrial production value and export turnover, but it also creates a spillover effect in technology transfer, improving corporate governance capacity and the quality of the province's human resources.

Despite achieving many positive results, the province's FDI attraction efforts still face numerous challenges. The quality of human resources does not yet meet the requirements of high-tech and smart manufacturing industries. There is a shortage of highly skilled technical workers, technology engineers, and management experts, while the demand from FDI enterprises is increasing. The logistics and supporting industry ecosystem has improved but still lacks synchronization. There is a risk of attracting low value-added projects if there is a lack of appropriate screening mechanisms regarding technology, environment, and the level of linkage with domestic businesses...

Towards becoming a high-tech FDI hub.

During the period 2026-2030, Phu Tho aims to shift strongly from attracting FDI extensively to a strategy of selecting high-tech, green industrial projects with the potential to create significant added value in the global production chain. This is considered a crucial step to improve the quality of growth and develop industry in a sustainable direction.

According to the development orientation for this period, Phu Tho aims to become a center for receiving high-tech FDI, green industries, and technology services in the Northwest region and the western belt of Hanoi . The province aims to participate more deeply in high-tech stages of the global supply chain, while creating a strong spillover effect in technology, human resources, and domestic business capacity.

To realize this goal, the province plans to attract $7-8 billion in new FDI capital during the 2026-2030 period. Approximately 60-70% of the total registered capital will be concentrated in next-generation FDI sectors such as high technology, innovation, research and development (R&D), green industries, and sustainable development projects.

The investment attraction structure will be reshaped towards greater specialization and selectivity. Approximately 80% of new FDI projects are expected to focus on manufacturing, electronics, semiconductors, electric vehicles, precision engineering, medical equipment, renewable energy, new materials, and supporting industries. These are the sectors expected to drive industrial growth, create high-quality jobs, and promote technology transfer.

Alongside attracting investment, Phu Tho province has identified the development of modern industrial infrastructure as a fundamental condition for welcoming a new generation of FDI. In the coming period, the province plans to establish at least one high-tech industrial park, three supporting industrial parks, three specialized industrial parks, and one regional innovation center... The industrial park system will be invested in comprehensively in digital infrastructure, environmental treatment, and clean energy, with the goal of achieving a minimum of 50% renewable energy use in industrial parks by 2030.

In addition, the locality aims to strengthen linkages between the FDI sector and domestic enterprises to increase the localization rate and develop a supporting industrial ecosystem. The goal is to have at least 100 domestic enterprises participating in the supply chains of FDI corporations by 2030, with approximately 20 enterprises meeting the standards of Tier 1 suppliers.

High-quality human resources continue to be identified as a key factor in the province's investment attraction strategy. According to the plan, Phu Tho will train at least 20,000 highly skilled workers to serve high-tech industries, meeting the needs of both FDI and domestic enterprises.

With a clear development orientation, along with advantages in geographical location, connectivity infrastructure, and a developing industrial base, Phu Tho is expected to become a high-tech, green, and modern industrial center of the Northern Midlands and Mountains region in the new development phase.

Ngoc Tuan

Source: https://baophutho.vn/dinh-hinh-chien-luoc-thu-hut-fdi-the-he-moi-255078.htm