This photo taken on December 8, 2023 shows workers on their computers at the headquarters of Vietnamese internet firm VNG in Ho Chi Minh City. VNG co-founder Le Hong Minh's first taste of international competition was as a gamer for Vietnam at an early e-sport tournament in South Korea. Two decades later, he says he's ready to face the world's best again as he takes his tech company public. (Photo by Nhac NGUYEN / AFP) / To go with 'VIETNAM-VNG-INTERNET-STOCK,FOCUS' by Alice PHILIPSON
HANOI: Foreign investors have recently rushed to southern Vietnamese provinces and cities to look for investment opportunities and locations.
Last week, representatives of more than 40 German enterprises visited Dong Nai Province to learn about potential investments there.
Alexander Ziehe, chairman of the Association of German Enterprises in Vietnam, said he is very impressed with the open and professional environment that Dong Nai is creating for foreign businesses, including for German enterprises, the Dau tu (Investment) newspaper reported.
Meanwhile, since the beginning of the year, Dong Nai has also welcomed representatives of business associations from South Korea, Japan and India to learn about the investment environment. Investors have shown interest in developing projects in the province.
These include South Korean conglomerate Harbor Star Engineering Global Group’s urban, commercial, service, entertainment and logistics projects around the Long Thanh Airport, and Japanese retailer Aeon Mall Group’s shopping centre in Bien Hoa City, with a total investment of more than six trillion dong or about US$236mil.
US investors have also revealed plans for three high-tech projects in the fields of advanced optics, measurement and semiconductor manufacturing that would be built by Coherent Group, as well as plans by TWG Group to construct smart urban areas.
Meanwhile, a group of foreign investors also met with the authorities of Binh Duong Province to outline plans for expansion of their investments in the province.
At the meeting, Yeh Ming Yuh, general director of Polytex Far Eastern Vietnam Co Ltd, announced a plan to expand investment in Binh Duong to US$1.54bil.
The Warburg Pincus Group has also proposed to develop a cross-border eCommerce centre in the province.
Binh Duong is also a major potential choice for Denmark’s AP Moller Maersk Group to invest in a large-scale logistics centre.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Tokyu Group is researching and surveying locations to invest in semiconductor technology there.
Ho Chi Minh City has also received investment attention from several high-tech giants.
In particular, delegations from Nvidia have come to the southern hub to find a location for an artificial intelligence (AI) research, development and training centre, and another location for partial production of a graphics processing unit for supercomputers.
Other US giants have also suggested investment projects in Ho Chi Minh City, including Smart Tech Group’s US$340mil to US$850mil battery factory and an data centre in the city’s High-Tech Park by Evolution Group under the Warburg Pincus Investment Fund.
Some southern local authorities have organised investment promotion programmes abroad to call for more foreign investment.
The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee organised a conference in the US promoting investment in the metropolis, during which a series of agreements and memorandums of understanding were signed between the city and US partners.
In response to Ho Chi Minh City’s investment invitation, in earlier this month, a delegation of leading US investment funds came to the city to discuss an initial public offering and the building of a financial centre in the southern hub.
More than 30 US businesses are scheduled to arrive in Ho Chi Minh early next year to implement their signed agreements. — Viet Nam News/ANN
