At theirrecent meetings with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Microsoft, GatesFoundation, SpaceX, Coca-Cola, and Pacifico Energy have revealed their investmentand business plans in Vietnam.
Afternearly 30 years, Coca-Cola has poured over 1 billion USD into the country, withthree beverage factories in Hanoi, central Da Nang city, and Ho Chi Minh City.It recently launched the construction of another plant in the Mekong Deltaprovince of Long An.
Dau tu (Vietnam Investment Review) cited James Quincey, Chairman and CEO ofThe Coca-Cola Company, as saying that his firmwants to expand production in the country, and plans to relocate the factories situatedin residential areas and innovate technology towards sustainability.
SpaceX,a supplier of spacecraft, satellite launch and satellite communications services,is planning to invest about 500 million USD in Vietnam. It hopes to be licensedto provide the satellite internet service of Starlink in the country.
Expressingits wish to continue investing in renewable energy, Pacifico Energy has sharedthe idea on developing offshore wind power in the country. The biggestrenewable energy investor of the US has invested in a 40MW solar power projectin the south central province of Binh Thuan and a 30MW wind power one in theMekong Delta province of Ben Tre.
Meanwhile,many members of the Semiconductor Industry Association of the US have come toVietnam to learn about the local investment climate to prepare for chipmanufacturing.
Among them, Amkor Technology haspoured 1.6 billion USD into a semiconductor factory in northern Bac Ninhprovince. This plant is the biggest and most modern of the company around theworld. The firm will also invest 1.6 billion USD into another plant in Bac Ninhbetween now and 2035.
Marvell and Synopsis have also saidthey will develop semiconductor incubation and design centres in HCM City.
Vietnamis emerging as one of chip manufacturing bases of US enterprises. Manycompanies from the North American country are also helping with manpowertraining and transfer patents to Vietnam to raise the Southeast Asian country’srole in global semiconductor supply chains, according to Dau tu.
At the investors’ conference 2023 recentlyheld in HCM City by VinaCapital, foreign investors voiced their interest inpotential industries in Vietnam such as clean and renewable energy, greenproduction and semiconductor, especially after the Vietnam-US relations wereelevated to the comprehensive strategic partnership.
Andy Ho, Chief Investment Officer ofVinaCapital Group, perceived that the fall in Vietnam’s exports to the US hasended and that he hopes the number of orders will bounce back. The stableUSD/VND exchange rate and the middle class expanding by 10% annually willprolong consumption growth for the next over 10 years.
All these factors will help sustainthe foreign investment flows into Vietnam, he noted.
BainCapital, a private investment firm of the US, recently channelled more than 200million USD into Masan Group via share purchases. Together with Bain Capital,other investors are also planning to negotiate with the consumer-focused conglomerate.Basing on their Masan’s capital demand and market conditions, the US enterprisecan raise its investment to 500 million USD.
BarnabyLyons, a leader of Bain Capital, said the cooperation with Masan is a strategicinvestment project in Vietnam, which is assessed as the fastest growingconsumer market in Southeast Asia with an annual growth rate predicted at 7.7% during 2022 - 2040./.