Light-emitting diode bulbs are produced at Kim Dinh Co in HCM City's Saigon Hi-tech Park. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Vu
Multinational electronic companies are making moves to increase investment and expand production, to help HCM City become a leading production hub.
Vo Van Hoan, vice chairman of the HCM City People's Committee said the city was home to 50 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects with an investment capital of more than US$5 billion an area of land of more than 326 ha.
Seventeen are electronic projects with an investment capital of $20 million located in industrial parks, export processing zones and high-tech zones.
The city has lured many global leading brands including Intel, Samsung, First Solar, Furukawa Automotive Parts, and Renesas.
Early this year, both Intel and Samsung simultaneously increased their investment and committed to long-term investment in Viet Nam, despite current restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Intel Products Vietnam Company had increased its investment capital by $475 million, bringing its total investment capital to more than $1.5 billion.
Alan Danner, CFO of Intel Vietnam said Intel Vietnam has manufactured and exported more than 2 billion microprocessor and semiconductor products. By the end of last year, total export value reached $50 billion and created nearly 7,000 jobs.
This has helped Intel increase its production of 5G products, Intel Core processors with Intel Hybrid technology, and 10th generation Intel Core processors.
Samsung Electronics HCMC CE Complex Co Ltd has agreed to adjust project information and transform their business from a high-tech enterprise to an export processing enterprise.
Samsung's project in HCM City Hi-Tech Park was first licensed on September 25, 2014. The investment capital has now reached over $2 billion. The project was built on an area of more than 93 ha with a production capacity of 19 million products per year; bringing an annual average turnover of $4.2 billion. Of this figure, import value was more than $2.5 billion and export value $3.6 billion. This contributed more than VND2.7 trillion ($118 million) to the State coffers.
Experts said the transformation not only generates incentives for export, but also provide practical support to businesses in the supply chain of Samsung, especially businesses in the field of supporting industry in HCM City and neighbouring areas.
Hua Quoc Hung, Head of the Management Board of industrial and export processing zones of HCM City said there are 45 FDI projects in the electronics sector operating in industrial zones and export processing zones with an investment capital of more than $1.7 billion.
He said the US First Solar project located in the Southeast Industrial Park has an investment capital of more than $1 billion.
Chan See Chong, General Director of First Solar Vietnam Manufacturing Co Ltd, told Vietnam Investment Review that his company had invested in building two factories in Dong Nam Industrial Park. First Solar Group currently has three main production facilities in the US, Malaysia and Viet Nam.
First Solar has announced that the total investment capital for these two new factories was $830 million. The first plant began manufacturing Series 6 solar modules at the end of 2018.
When both factories are in full operation, First Solar's total capacity will reach 2.4 GW per year, he said.
The company also doubled its production capacity to about 5.31 million modules per year, compared with the initial expected capacity of 2.6 million modules per year. Products are expected to be exported mainly to America and Europe.
A representative of First Solar said they will have more opportunities to discuss with local authorities and real estate investors to focus on developing solar power projects so as to meet Viet Nam’s market demand. — VNS