Representatives from the Daikin Air-Conditioning Joint Stock Company and Thang Long Industrial Park II Company sign a land lease contract on Monday in HCM City. — Photo baodautu.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) – Daikin Air-Conditioning Joint Stock Company and Thang Long Industrial Park II Company on Monday signed a land lease contract to build the largest air conditioner factory in Viet Nam.

The agreement was signed in HCM City.

Located in the northern Hung Yen Province, the 22,000sq.m factory is expected to have a total investment of 10 billion yen (US$93.6 million). The production centre will start operating in April 2018, with an annual capacity of about 500,000 AC units. The capacity will be doubled to roughly a million units by 2020. In addition, the factory will employ about 500 people in the first year of operation, increasing to 1,500 people when it begins full-capacity production.

In recent years, economic development has led to strong income growth of the middle class in Viet Nam, driving the demand for air conditioners in daily life.

The Japanese company aims to capitalise on Viet Nam's potential for rapid growth specifically, and in the Southeast Asian nations in general.

This could be a huge opportunity for the country to promote its infrastructure and create more jobs. — VNS