Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)Vietnam’shigh-tech industry has seen a new investment wave. Last week, the northerncoastal province of Quang Ninh held a ceremony to grant a licence for Jinko SolarTechnology Ltd of Hong Kong to invest in a photovoltaic cell technology projectworth 500 million USD.
Austrianprinted circuit board manufacturer AT&S has been studying several locationsin Vietnam to build two factories worth 1.5 billion euros (1.78 billion USD).
Thecompany will make a decision on the location in mid-April and startconstruction at the end of this year. It expects to complete work within a year.
DoNhat Hoang, Director of the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry ofPlanning and Investment, said the new investment wave in the high-techsector was because tech giants like Samsung, Foxconn, Luxshare, and Intelhad ramped up their investment and production capacity in Vietnam.
Hoangsaid most of the global tech giants already had invested or soughtinvestment opportunities in Vietnam.
Hesaid to welcome this new investment wave, the Vietnamese Government had workedout a series of important requirements. In the middle of last month, then PrimeMinister Nguyen Xuan Phuc officially issued the new requirements for high-techenterprises.
Accordingly,high-tech enterprises with a total investment capital of 6 trillion VND (260million USD) and a number of 3,000 employees or more must commit to spend atleast 0.5 percent of their capital for research and development (R&D).Enterprises with a total capital of 100 billion VND and 200 employees or moremust commit to at least one percent of their total net revenue.
An anonymousinvestor said under the new requirements, foreign investors wouldavoid the “heavy burden” of commitments for R&D activities. Under the newrequirements, spending for R&D will also include depreciation ofinfrastructure investment, fixed assets, vocational training, recurrentexpenditures and royalties.
Inthe past, after the High-technology Law took effect on July 1, 2009, investorsincreasingly complained about the high requirements for investment projects tobe recognised as “high-technology projects.” Commonly cited complaints includethe limited number of products that were listed as high-technology products,that high-technology enterprises must commit at least one percent of theirannual revenue towards (R&D), and that at least five percent of totalworkers must be involved in R&D activities.
Hoangsaid the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) was collecting comments fromministries and agencies before submitting to the Government for approval onspecial investment policies.
Hesaid under the new regulations, special incentives will be given to innovationhub projects, including National Innovation Centre, R&D projects, andlarge-scale projects.
“Wehave proposed four criteria to determine those eligible to enjoy specialincentives or not that include technology, technology transfer, participationof Vietnamese businesses in value chains and value added in Vietnam,” said Hoang.
Withspecial incentives, preparation of premises, energy, high-qualityhuman resources, and improvements in the business climate, Vietnam wouldattract more investment in high-tech projects in the future, he added./.
VNA
