More foreign investment in hi-tech industries

There are currently a host of positive signs in the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) that is being pumped into hi-tech industries in Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City in particular.

A representative from Intel Products Vietnam, which accounts for more than half of all the total investment in the Saigon Hi-Tech Park, said that its plant is test running its first production line and plans to export its first chips in the third quarter of this year.

Intel decided to increase its investment in the plant to US$1 billion in 2006, making it the largest chip assembly and testing facility the US group has built anywhere in the world.

In late June, the park’s management board granted a licence to the Japanese Nidec Copal Precision Company to design and produce precision motors and spare parts used in mobile and digital devices. The plant is estimated to cost US$70 million and is scheduled to start operating in April 2011.

According to the management board, 86 investors have enquired about business opportunities since the beginning of this year. Twenty of the 42 enterprises in the park, mainly in high technologies, telecoms and precision engineering, are operational and have made US$174.7 million from exports.

At the Nam Sai Gon Industrial Zone and the Tan Thuan Export-Processing Zone, FDI hi-tech projects have recorded some encouraging initial results. Worthy of note is a project to design and produce semi-conductors by the Renesas Group from Japan . The Group is also planning to build a second design centre in the Tan Thuan Export-Processing Zone.

The HCM City Export-Processing and Industrial Zone also welcomed three foreign investors that operate in the hi-tech industry in the first half of 2010.

These promising signs show that the city’s strategy to develop its hi-tech industry and are in line with the country’s policy for attracting FDI in the future, which gives top priority to hi-tech industries, including electronics, micro-electronics and biological products.

However, investors still face a wide range of challenges, especially the lack of skilled workers.

To deal with this, Nidec Copal Precision has said it will increase the use of automation to lessen its dependence on human resources. Intel Products Vietnam has also paid out US$4 million in scholarships to help talented Vietnamese students study foreign language courses in the US.

VOV

Tags: invest in Vietnam, Vietnam FDI, Vietnam investment