from Japan and German based multi-national Bosch are increasing the
scale of their investment in Ho Chi Minh City , an indication of how
attractive the hi-tech industry has become to investors.
Intel Vietnam said it would officially inaugurate the first phase
of its largest global micro-chip plant, with an investment capital of 1
billion USD, at the Ho Chi Minh City Hi-tech Zone later this month.
The first batch of Intel chips worth 120 million USD is expected to be exported later this year.
Also in October, Bosch Vietnam will have its software research and
production centre in Ho Chi Minh City up and running, the company’s
second major production facility in the Asia-Pacific region.
According to Bosch Vietnam ’s Managing Director Vo Quang Hue, by
the end of this year, the company will have begun the first phase of a
24 million USD auto-parts factory in Long Thanh district, Dong Nai. It
also plans to inject an additional 30 million VND to finish the factory
by 2015.
Vietnam is now the only Southeast
Asian market where Bosch are involved in all three stages, research,
production and sales.
Despite operating four
projects in HCM City , with a combined investment of nearly 500
million USD, Nidec President Nagomori Shigennobu still says his company
will continue with its investment, research and development activities
in the HCM City Hi-tech Zone, as well as call on its Japanese partners
to invest more in this field.
According to the
General Secretary of the Vietnam Electronics Businesses Association Tran
Quang Hung, the presence of foreign groups in the hi-tech industry
creates opportunities for Vietnamese workers to learn and improve their
skills and gradually expand the number of subsidiaries producing
components for overseas companies in the next 5-10 years.
Many small and medium sized Vietnamese companies investing in the
hi-tech industry could also become partners of foreign groups to
manufacture spare parts and help to improve the country’s
competitiveness in this sector, he added.
Vietnam
has several advantages over other regional countries, such as cheap
labour costs and a convenient location for transporting goods to other
markets in the Asia-Pacific region, said Hue, adding that in order to
develop its hi-tech industry, the country should define itself as a
destination for large manufacturers./.
