Attracting FDI for economic development

Foreign investment flows into Vietnam are still on a positive trend. Photo: Le Toan

FDI direction into semiconductors, AI

A few days ago, Qualcomm - a "giant" in the global technology industry - launched the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research and Development (R&D) Center in Vietnam. This is Qualcomm's third largest R&D center in the world , after two centers located in India and Ireland. Therefore, this project is expected to make Vietnam a leading AI R&D center in the region and the world.

Appreciating this project, Deputy Minister of Finance Le Tan Can said that the event is an “important milestone” opening a new phase of cooperation between Qualcomm and Vietnam in the field of AI. He suggested that Qualcomm continue to promote breakthrough research on AI in Vietnam, as well as promote cooperation with the National Innovation Center (NIC) to support Vietnam in developing human resources for the AI industry.

The Qualcomm R&D Center project was also mentioned by Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang as a bright spot in attracting foreign investment in the first 5 months of the year. In a report sent to the National Assembly on a number of issues related to the group of questions in the financial sector at the 9th Session of the 15th National Assembly, Minister Nguyen Van Thang emphasized the figure of more than 18.4 billion USD of FDI capital registered in Vietnam in the past 5 months, an increase of 66.2% over the same period last year.

According to the Minister, more importantly, attracting foreign investment continues to develop in the direction of focusing on attracting investors in the processing, manufacturing, digital transformation, and AI industries. “Many large enterprises from the US and EU continue to make new investments and expand investments, building supply chains in Vietnam. This shows Vietnam's important position in global supply chains,” Minister Nguyen Van Thang affirmed.

In addition to the R&D Center Project, Qualcomm also has other plans in Vietnam. During a meeting with General Secretary To Lam, Mr. Alex Rogers, President of Global Governance, Qualcomm Corporation said that Qualcomm will continue to invest in Vietnam, including nurturing Vietnamese talents in global AI development, contributing to the development of Vietnam and the Vietnam-US relationship.

AI and semiconductors are the fields in which Vietnam is looking to increase investment attraction, in order to promote new growth drivers for the double-digit growth target in the coming period.

Attracting FDI for development

Despite the difficulties of global investment flows, foreign investment in Vietnam is still on a positive trend. Moreover, the trend of large-scale projects is also returning.

In the report on foreign investment attraction in the first 5 months of 2025, the Foreign Investment Agency (Ministry of Finance) emphasized a series of large-scale projects that have been newly registered and increased investment capital in Vietnam. These are the Yen So Park Construction Project in Hanoi, with a total investment capital increase of 1.12 billion USD; the Southern Petrochemical Complex Project, with an additional capital increase of 400 million USD; the Berjaya - Handico 12 Residential and Commercial Area Project in Hanoi, with an additional capital increase of 304.8 million USD... Or recently, we can mention the Trump Group's project in Hung Yen and the group's interest in the Thu Thiem area (HCMC)...

The past five months have seen the return of many large-scale projects in the real estate sector, with a total of 4.99 billion USD, double that of the same period last year, and this shows the attractiveness of the Vietnamese market. These moves are probably similar to Savills Vietnam's recent assessment of the opportunity to attract investment from the world's super-rich.

Recently, in reports on foreign investment attraction, the Ministry of Finance also mentioned the $1 billion project of SYRE Group (Sweden), with the desire to turn Vietnam into the first global textile and garment center, applying high technology according to US and EU standards; or Apple's announcement that Vietnam will be the country of origin for almost all Ipad, Mac, Apple Watch and AirPods products in the US market...

“Vietnam has many factors that attract the super-rich, from its strategic location in Southeast Asia, rapid economic growth, attractive natural landscapes to a significantly improved living environment. Along with that is a unique culture, rich cuisine and a lot of room for real estate investment potential,” said Mr. Matthew Powell, Director of Savills Hanoi.

Attracting FDI into the real estate sector will positively support the market and the economy. However, for the economy to accelerate its development more strongly in the coming time, the key is still processing and manufacturing projects, especially projects in pioneering industrial fields such as semiconductors, AI, etc.

In his report to the National Assembly, Minister Nguyen Van Thang, when clarifying the factors of both traditional and new growth drivers to promote growth above 8% this year, mentioned one of the important solutions. That is "attracting foreign investment resources for development".

According to the Minister, it is necessary to promptly grasp, advise on handling, and immediately remove obstacles and recommendations for large FDI projects; promote the role of working groups to accompany, support, and quickly resolve investment procedures for large FDI projects to accelerate project progress. At the same time, build a "National Investment One-Stop Portal" to be completed in August 2025, a "Provincial Investment One-Stop Portal" after the provincial restructuring...

Minister Nguyen Van Thang also emphasized the need to build an effective mechanism to selectively attract FDI, exploit indirect investment flows, international investment funds, such as direct support in cash or infrastructure for some potential sectors, creating breakthroughs and new driving forces for growth. At the same time, creating maximum conditions and encouraging businesses to carry out R&D activities or cooperate in technology transfer in Vietnam...

To attract FDI and promote new growth drivers, the Draft Resolution on the development of international financial centers has just been submitted to the National Assembly. When the Resolution is passed and when financial centers are formed and developed, it will not only help Vietnam connect to the global financial market, but also contribute to attracting foreign financial institutions; taking advantage of opportunities to shift international investment capital flows...

Thus, there will soon be more high-quality investment capital flowing into Vietnam…

Source: https://baodautu.vn/hut-von-fdi-cho-phat-trien-kinh-te-d303078.html