Vinh Phuc authorities give red light to a project of Taiwan's Foxconn International Holdings Ltd., after it failed to make any progress on the project. — Photo wkbn.com

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Taiwan's Foxconn International Holdings Ltd has had its investment licence revoked for a US$200 million cellphone plant in the Binh Xuyen 2 Industrial Zone, 60km north of Ha Noi, according to the Vinh Phuc Industrial Zone management board, according to Dau tu (Investment) newspaper.

Nguyen Tien Hanh, director of the province's Investment Promotion Agency, said they revoked the licence in June after it failed to make any progress on the project.

The company received the investment licence in February 2008, and had been scheduled to start operations in 2009 with expected annual production of 89 million cellphones as well as tens of millions of cellphone parts.

They haven't started work on the plant yet, despite being warned many times, said Hanh

Foxconn has struggled to develop the project, and has asked the province to reschedule the construction times on numerous occasions. Due to finance problems, the group decided to dissolve before the deadline. The provincial Government has asked the company to find a new investor.

Resuming investment

The Vinh Phuc Investment Promotion Agency announced on Wednesday that Compal Electronics, another Taiwanese electronic product manufacturer, wants to resume its investment in the province.

In 2007, Compal announced an investment of $500 million in a laptop production facility in Viet Nam which was scheduled to open in 2009, but the project was postponed.

Compal's plant in Viet Nam will produce smartphones instead of laptops as initially planned. Analysts said many multinationals had chosen Viet Nam following unfavourable market movements in mainland China. In addition to many investment incentives offered to technology firms, water and electricity costs in Viet Nam are lower than in other markets. — VNS