Investors are flocking in, and Vietnam is ready to welcome them.

Vietnam is preparing the necessary conditions to welcome foreign investors, especially in the semiconductor and artificial intelligence (AI) sectors.

Foxconn's electronics manufacturing plant in Bac Ninh . Photo: Duc Thanh

Investors flocked to the market.

In less than a week, three localities – Bac Ninh, Dong Nai , and Binh Duong – consecutively held conferences to announce their 2024 investment plans and promotion activities. As expected, many projects from both domestic and foreign investors received investment certificates, investment approvals, or investment agreements. This is understandable, as these are all leading localities nationwide in attracting foreign direct investment in recent years.

For example, in Bac Ninh, 18 projects received investment certificates, investment approvals, and memoranda of understanding (MOUs) on this occasion, with a total projected investment capital of nearly 5.6 billion USD. Among them are many large-scale projects such as the Foxconn Bac Ninh FCPV Factory Project of Foxconn Group, with an investment of 383.3 million USD; the Goertek Nam Son - Hap Linh Factory for manufacturing electronic products, network equipment, and multimedia audio products, with an investment of 280 million USD; the Victory Giant Vietnam high-precision printed circuit board (PCB) project, with an investment of 260 million USD; and the Amkor Group's project to increase its capital by an additional 1.07 billion USD…

Notably, the Vietnam Industrial and Commercial Bank Trade Union Investment Joint Stock Company (a subsidiary of Phu My Hung Company) has received investment approval for the Hong Hac - Xuan Lam Ecological Urban Area Project in Thuan Thanh town, with an investment capital of 1.066 billion USD (including an additional 998 million USD); Samsung Display Company signed an MOU for the development of the Samsung Display Project worth 1.8 billion USD; and AEON signed an MOU for the AEON MALL Project worth 190 million USD.

“With this investment project, in addition to OLED products for mobile phones (currently in production), Samsung will deploy a production line for OLED products for IT equipment and automobiles. These are items predicted to account for approximately 30% of the global market share in the next five years,” said Mr. Choi Joo Ho, General Director of Samsung Vietnam, during a meeting with the Prime Minister shortly afterward.

According to Choi Joo Ho, with this plan, Samsung Display's revenue is expected to double from $17 billion this year to $20 billion in five years. With this plan, Samsung Display has also increased its investment to $8.3 billion, becoming Samsung's largest global manufacturing hub for display screens.

Meanwhile, Gary Tseng, General Director of Phu My Hung Development Co., Ltd., was delighted to receive investment approval for a project worth over $1 billion in Bac Ninh, after a long period of focusing investments in the southern region.

Not only Bac Ninh, but many projects in Dong Nai have also been granted investment certificates and investment approvals with a scale of 6 billion USD. Binh Duong has also welcomed many projects.

Meanwhile, Thai Binh province recently welcomed Geely Auto Group and Tasco Joint Stock Company, who are seeking investment opportunities. This joint venture plans to develop a factory specializing in the production and assembly of automobiles with a total investment of nearly $170 million in Tien Hai Industrial Park.

At the same time, on the other side of the globe, while attending the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly and working in New York (USA), General Secretary and President To Lam met with leaders of several major US corporations and investment funds, such as Apple, Meta, Super Micro, Blackstone, Warburg Pincus… These corporations all affirmed their interest in the Vietnamese market.

Vietnam is ready to welcome

Foreign investors are flocking to Vietnam, which is positive news. But can Vietnam seize and realize these opportunities, especially in attracting investment from leading chip and semiconductor companies?

Speaking at the Policy Dialogue Session of the Ho Chi Minh City Economic Forum 2024, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong said that in recent years, Vietnam has made efforts to improve institutions and policies, while also preparing the necessary conditions regarding land, human resources, energy, etc., to meet the needs of investors.

According to Apple Vice President Nick Ammann, Vietnam is not only a "great market" for the company, but also a "manufacturing hub" for Apple to supply goods to the world. Goertek and Foxconn's projects in Bac Ninh also produce components for Apple.

Stating that the Ministry of Planning and Investment is urgently finalizing the Decree on the establishment, management, and use of the Investment Support Fund, Deputy Minister Tran Quoc Phuong emphasized that these mechanisms and policies will help attract investors in new technology fields, such as semiconductors and green hydrogen…

“The government has also just issued two important decisions: the Semiconductor Industry Development Strategy and the High-Quality Human Resource Training Scheme for the Semiconductor Industry. These are two key decisions to help us enter a new phase, promoting a stronger economic transformation in the fields of innovation, digital transformation, and green transformation,” Deputy Minister Tran Quoc Phuong said.

These two important documents will serve as a foundation for Vietnam to attract even more investment in cutting-edge technologies such as semiconductors and AI – areas that Vietnam has identified as driving economic breakthroughs in the coming years.

At the Policy Dialogue Session, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Pham Duc Long also shared important information. That is, the Government recently submitted to the National Assembly for approval the amended Telecommunications Law. In this law, for the first time, data center and cloud computing services are included, both for management purposes, but primarily to develop policies to promote development and attract investors to large and very large data centers.

According to Deputy Minister Pham Duc Long, the amended Telecommunications Law has two key points: firstly, foreign investors are not limited in the percentage of capital contribution when participating in the construction of data centers; and importantly, data centers are not required to be licensed, but instead will be subject to post-licensing to ensure compliance with regulations, green standards, technical standards, and cybersecurity standards.

Speaking at the Policy Dialogue Session, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh once again affirmed Vietnam's consistent stance that foreign investment is "important and groundbreaking." According to the Prime Minister, to attract foreign investment, three factors must be considered: a transparent institutional framework; convenient and efficient infrastructure; and a guaranteed supply of high-quality human resources in emerging industries such as semiconductors, hydrogen, AI, and cloud computing.

At the Policy Dialogue Session, the Prime Minister also pledged that Vietnam will protect the legitimate rights and interests of investors and will not criminalize economic and civil relations. "I believe Vietnam is an attractive investment destination now and in the future," the head of government emphasized.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/nha-dau-tu-cap-tap-den-viet-nam-san-ready-to-choose-d225949.html