VN focuses on attracting high-tech FDI

Just last week, Samsung Electronics Viet Nam Thai Nguyen Company commenced operations of its telephone-assembling factory worth US$2 billion. This is the second factory of its kind by Samsung in Viet Nam. The other is is Bac Ninh.— Photo baohaiquan

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — An inflow of large scale, high-tech, foreign backed projects is improving the quality of investment in Viet Nam and increasing national export value, experts have said.

Shim Won Hwan, general director of the Samsung Complex in Thai Nguyen, said the factory would be able to make two million telephones every month.

Capacity is expected to increase to eight to nine million units in the last quarter of this year, reported the Dau tu (Investment) newspaper. Eventually, Samsung expects to export $35 billion worth of telephones, which will be assembled at the two factories, he noted.

Nguyen Mai, chairman of the Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises (AFIE), said that Intel invested more in Viet Nam at the end of 2013.

Other large technological firms, such as Samsung and Nokia, followed, bringing a new wave of FDI into Viet Nam. They invested in high-tech and clean tech projects, raising the quality of FDI, Mai claimed.

In July, the large South Korean whitegoods factory LG will run a trial of its factory, which manufactures electronic products, such as washing machines, vacuum cleaners, air conditioners, and television sets.

The factory also makes telephone and sound equipment for automobiles in Hai Phong. It has a total investment of US$1.5 billion.

LG expects to export $600 million worth of goods in 2015, $1.8 billion in 2016, and $3 billion in 2020.

Meanwhile, many small companies have come forward to produce electronic components in Viet Nam for large technological companies.

According to the Foreign Investment Agency of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, in the last decade, there has a sharp increase in high-tech FDI from the US, Japan, and Europe.

Companies such as Sanyo, Matsushita, Sony, and Fujitsu plan to build factories to manufacture modern technological products and expand their production. Toshiba also plans to set up a manufacturing facility.

Projects related to high-tech industry have contributed to the development of technology and labour, attracted investment, and also led to socio-economic development in Viet Nam, the Foreign Investment Agency noted.

In the near future, it said activities to attract more quality FDI into the country should focus on hi-tech and environmentally friendly projects.

They should also focus on promoting co-operation among industries and sectors in order to create highly competitive products. — VNS