Hanoi leads in attracting FDI in the first half of 2025:

With breakthrough results in the first 6 months of 2025, the Capital not only affirms its leading position but also opens up many development opportunities in the future, especially with new mechanisms, policies and clear development orientations.

Production line at Panasonic System Networks Vietnam Co., Ltd. (Thang Long Industrial Park). Photo: Quang Thai

Reasons for the breakthrough

Since 1986, Hanoi has maintained its position as one of the leading localities in the country in attracting FDI. The total accumulated FDI capital reached about 61.5 billion USD, with 7,710 valid projects, making Hanoi the second largest in the country.

Key sectors attracting large amounts of capital include real estate (accounting for 36.54%), manufacturing and processing industry (23.61%), trade and commerce services (12.43%) and scientific and professional activities (12.4%). The capital has also attracted investment from 117 countries and territories, with Japan, Singapore and South Korea being the leading partners.

In particular, in the first 6 months of 2025, FDI capital flows grew dramatically, with more than 3.67 billion USD, an increase of 216% over the same period in 2024 and rose to the top of the country. Notably, 89 projects increased capital with a total added value of 3.143 billion USD, contributing greatly to this impressive figure, demonstrating the confidence of existing investors.

Major projects include Gamuda Group (Malaysia) with the Yen So Park Construction Project and the C2-Gamuda Gardens New Urban Area Project, the Nam Thang Long New Urban Area Project and the Le Trong Tan New Urban Area Project - Parkcity Hanoi. Countries investing heavily in Hanoi during this period include Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, China, and South Korea.

This remarkable growth comes from a combination of many factors. First of all, the attraction of large capital-raising projects demonstrates the strong confidence of international corporations in Hanoi's business environment and sustainable development potential.

Strategic geographical location and synchronous infrastructure are also key advantages, helping Hanoi become an important gateway with an increasingly modern transportation system, creating favorable conditions for logistics and market connection. In addition, abundant, high-quality human resources from hundreds of universities and colleges are a great competitive advantage, especially in the fields of technology and engineering.

In addition, the favorable business investment environment is strengthened thanks to efforts to improve administrative procedures, clarify regulations and preferential investment policies of the city government.

Finally, the large consumer market with more than 8 million people and high per capita income, along with great potential for urban and service development, has created a solid foundation for Hanoi to not only attract but also retain investors.

Outstanding mechanisms, policies and room for attracting FDI in Hanoi

In recent years, Hanoi has been proactively researching and developing flexible and effective investment attraction mechanisms and policies. The city focuses on investment incentives by industry and location, especially in industrial parks and high-tech parks such as Hoa Lac, prioritizing high-tech fields, manufacturing and processing industry, high-quality services, R&D and innovation.

At the same time, Hanoi also strengthens comprehensive support for businesses through the establishment of special working groups to promptly remove difficulties and maintain regular dialogue channels.

Strong investment in infrastructure is also a focus, including urban infrastructure, digital infrastructure, and energy infrastructure, to complete the transportation system, digital platform, telecommunications, electricity, and water to meet the increasing production and business needs of investors.

Despite impressive results, Hanoi still has a lot of room to attract FDI, especially in high value-added sectors. Hanoi is aiming to become a high-tech and semiconductor center, with strong potential in research and development and innovation thanks to its human resource advantage.

There is also a huge demand for investment in smart urban solutions and green infrastructure, renewable energy, and high-tech waste treatment. In addition, high-quality service projects such as finance, banking, tourism, healthcare, and education still have great potential to attract FDI.

Besides, a capital with a thousand years of culture is always a land with many advantages to create a difference to attract investment and develop tourism. With 1,350 craft villages, of which more than 300 are traditional craft villages, Hanoi is known as the "land of a hundred crafts", with the largest number of craft villages in Vietnam and the city with the largest number of craft villages in the world.

The production activities of Hanoi's craft villages are currently creating jobs for about 1 million rural workers and bringing in an annual export turnover of over 250 million USD. In particular, after more than 1,000 years of civilization, the cultural values and creativity of artisans of Hanoi's craft villages are truly a treasure, an asset, a huge resource for Hanoi to exploit and develop.

To turn potential into reality, Hanoi is implementing key solutions. The city will selectively attract and prioritize high-tech, environmentally friendly projects with commitments to technology transfer and creating links with domestic enterprises.

At the same time, Hanoi focuses on calling on the world's leading multinational corporations and investment funds specializing in technology. The development of specialized industrial parks and high-tech parks, especially the Hoa Lac High-Tech Park, to create an ideal destination for high-tech FDI projects is also being promoted.

Finally, in-depth, targeted investment promotion, on-site investment promotion through international conferences and forums and proactive connections with potential partners from Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, China, Taiwan (China) will be key to maximizing the potential.

FDI disbursement - a bright spot in Hanoi's investment efficiency

In addition to impressive results in attracting registered capital, Hanoi has paid special attention to accelerating the disbursement and implementation of FDI projects. In the first 6 months of 2025, the realized capital of FDI projects reached about 1.46 billion USD. This figure shows clear efficiency in converting registered capital into real capital, put into production and business activities.

The notable point is the sudden increase in additional capital (3.143 billion USD) in the total capital attracted of 3.67 billion USD. This reflects that existing projects are operating very effectively and have a continuous need for expansion, meaning that the rate of disbursement of committed capital is going well.

Hanoi has been creating the most favorable conditions for projects to be implemented quickly, from licensing to site clearance, ensuring progress and quality, thereby building solid trust for investors.

The significance of the revised Capital Law in attracting investment

The Capital Law No. 39/2024/QH15, effective from June 28, 2024, is of great significance, creating a new legal framework and strong motivation for attracting investment in Hanoi. This law creates a unique and superior mechanism, granting Hanoi greater autonomy and responsibility in issuing policies and investment incentive mechanisms, land management, planning, and infrastructure development.

This helps the city be more flexible in formulating competitive policies that are in line with practical requirements. In particular, the Resolution of the City People's Council on attracting strategic investors (passed on July 9, 2025) has created a solid foundation for orienting and prioritizing the areas that the Capital wants to focus on attracting, ensuring that resources are used effectively and in the right focus.

The revised Law on the Capital also aims for sustainable and modern development, focusing on selective investment attraction, prioritizing high-tech industries, green technology, and high-quality services, contributing to building Hanoi into a smart, green, and modern city.

The new regulations help Hanoi apply more attractive incentive policies, shorten licensing time, create a more open and transparent investment environment, thereby improving competitiveness compared to other localities.

Finally, the Law also creates a mechanism to encourage the attraction of high-quality human resources and the transfer of advanced technology, especially in priority areas, helping to improve the quality of FDI and sustainable development.

The driving force from the merger and organization of two-level local government

Hanoi has a clearly different FDI attraction structure compared to many other localities in the country. The city has a clear advantage in real estate and services, with real estate accounting for 36.54% and goods and trade services accounting for 12.43% of the total accumulated capital. This reflects Hanoi's role as a major urban center.

In particular, the development of scientific and R&D activities accounts for 12.4% of the total capital, showing Hanoi's strong potential in developing research and consulting activities. Although the manufacturing industry still accounts for a significant proportion, Hanoi is clearly shifting towards high-tech orientations such as chips, semiconductors, AI, IoT, different from the usual labor-intensive processing industries in other provinces.

After the process of organizing a two-level local government, Hanoi will have more powerful motivations to promote growth and attract investment capital. Optimizing resources through merging administrative units and streamlining the government apparatus will help reduce overlaps, improve management and operation efficiency; expanding development space will create more clean land to attract investors, especially in suburban areas.

Improving management capacity with a more streamlined operating mechanism will help shorten the time for processing procedures and improve the quality of business services. A synchronous and wider-ranging connection infrastructure will facilitate the movement of goods and human resources and promote production and business activities.

Finally, the larger urban scale and modern living and working environment will attract more high-quality human resources, meeting the needs of high-tech projects and modern services. With existing advantages, new mechanisms, policies and clear development orientation, Hanoi is on the way to breakthrough, continuing to affirm its position as one of the leading economic and investment centers of Vietnam.

Can Hanoi maintain this impressive growth momentum and realize its goal of becoming a regional high-tech and innovation hub in the coming years? This is the big question that both the government and the investor community are working together to find an answer to.

Hanoi's impressive FDI attraction results are a testament to the government's orientation of being "eager but not hasty" in development; showing the "sustainable and substantial" confidence of investors; and affirming the "support to enjoy" of the capital's people, joining hands to build an increasingly prosperous and civilized Hanoi.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/ha-noi-dan-dau-thu-hut-fdi-nua-dau-nam-2025-tiem-nang-but-pha-trong-tuong-lai-710719.html