There are positive signs in the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) being pumped into hi-tech industries in Vietnam.

VietNamNet Bridge - There are positive signs in the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) being pumped into hi-tech industries in Vietnam.

FDI capital transferred to manufacturing and processing

A representative from Intel Products Vietnam, which accounts for more than half of the total investment in Saigon Hi-Tech Park, revealed that its plant is test-running its first production line and expects to export its first chips in the third quarter of 2010.

Intel decided to increase its investment in the plant to 1 billion dollars 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 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 $70 million and is scheduled to begin operating in April 2011.

According to the management board, 86 investors have enquired about business opportunities since the beginning of 2010. Of the 42 enterprises in the park, mainly in high technologies, telecoms and precision engineering, 20 are operational and have made $174.7 million from exports.

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

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

These promising signs indicate that the city’s strategy to develop its hi-tech industry 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.

The lack of skilled workers and a wide range of other challenges, however, still hinders FDI investment in the city.

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

Source: VNA