Project

SAM to develop $1.5 bln data center in southern Vietnam

Published

1 day ago

March 16, 2025

Ho Chi Minh City-based fund Saigon Asset Management (SAM) has launched a $1.5 billion data center project in the southern province of Binh Duong, aiming to capitalize on Vietnam’s growing demand for digital infrastructure.

SAM will partner with the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP), a Singapore-backed major industrial park developer, to implement the project, called the SAM DigitalHub.

The data center, with a designed capacity of 150 MW, will cover 50 hectares at the VSIP and is expected to begin operations in two years. Once completed, it will be the biggest data center in Vietnam.

The Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park I in Binh Duong province, southern Vietnam. Photo courtesy of VSIP.

SAM is seeking potential investors, including local banks, to finance the project, SAM’s CEO Louis Nguyen said.

Recently, SAM debuted the $300 million Vietnam Data Center Fund (VDCF) to prepare for the project, with the first closing scheduled by Q4 this year.

According to a report by Cushman & Wakefield, Vietnam’s developing data center capacity is approximately 92 MW, with an average construction cost of $6.9 million per MW. To meet future demand, the country will need to attract around $640 million in investment over the next five to seven years.

Vietnam’s data center market is still in its early stages, with the lowest population-to-MW ratio in the Asia Pacific region (1.83 million people per MW). However, with a population exceeding 100 million and an average GDP growth rate of 6.25%, the market presents significant growth potential in the coming years, said Trang Bui, country head of Cushman & Wakefield Vietnam.

To support long-term growth, the Vietnamese government should continue improving its digital infrastructure, including terrestrial and submarine cable connectivity, ensuring reliable and uninterrupted power supply, and fostering a policy framework conducive to data center expansion, she suggested.

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Removing legal barriers for eco-industrial park development

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Taking advantage of potential and opportunities for industrial development

Project

Promoting circular economy in industrial parks

Published

29 minutes ago

March 17, 2025

Industrialzone.net

The benefits of green transformation in industrial parks are both huge and lasting, according to leaders of the Ministry of Planning and Investment. However, in the short term, many challenges and obstacles have meant the transition process has not been as strong as expected.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) held a conference entitled “Advancing circular economy in Vietnam’s industrial parks for sustainable development” on the afternoon of April 12.

In his opening speech, Le Thanh Quan, Director General of the Department of Economic Zones Management under the Ministry of Planning (MPI), said that in the more than 30 years of establishment and development, industrial and economic zones have been recognised as playing an important role in fostering socio-economic development, accelerating the process of industrialisation and modernisation, and promoting international integration.

Circular economic development is a trend that many countries around the world consider to be the green industrial revolution of the 21st century and is consistent with the country’s development orientation in the coming period. In particular, the eco-industrial park model is seen as the driving force to boost the circular economy.

According to Quan, the benefits of this transformation are great and long-lasting, but in the short term, many obstacles are preventing the transformation process from taking place as strongly as expected.

Smail Alhilali, Industrial Development Officer at the Department of Environment, UNIDO, said: “Promoting circular economy in industrial zones can help Vietnam to not only reduce environmental impacts but also create opportunities for innovation and green growth.”

Vietnam has a lot of potential. With existing support and available directions, Vietnam should learn from previous countries and successfully implement digital and energy transformation. The country should not only focusing on cleaner production and reduced emissions but also address the consumption issues.

The conference included discussion sessions on the important role of industrial parks in implementing circular economy principles, the opportunities and challenges of integrating circular economy activities between different industries in industrial parks, and others.

Project

Foreign offshore wind power investors can sell projects, Vietnam SOEs prioritized to buy

Published

1 hour ago

March 17, 2025

Industrialzone.net

Foreign investors of offshore wind power projects in Vietnam can sell their projects, and wholly state-owned enterprises (SOEs) or subsidiaries of those SOEs are prioritized to buy them.

The transaction is only permitted if the Vietnamese investors in the company refuse to purchase, according to the government’s Decree 58/2025 on renewable and new energy, effective from March 3, 2025.

Transactions of a part of an offshore wind project or an entire project must comply with the Electricity Law 2024 and other laws related to investment, enterprises, and sea.

They must be approved by the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade if there is involvement of foreign investors.

A sea-based wind power project in Tra Vinh province, Mekong Delta, southern Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Trungnam Group.

In cases of not-yet operational projects, the foreign buyers must meet the following requirements.

First, they must have experience in investing and developing at least one offshore wind power project that is operational in Vietnam or in the world. “Experience” includes direct investment, contributing a minimum 15% of the project’s total investment capital, and the ratio of equity to capital contribution being at least 20%.

Second, the foreign buyers must ensure that the offshore wind power project has the participation of domestic enterprises with at least 5% of chartered capital or voting shares of the company that implements such projects. The “domestic enterprises” must be wholly state-owned enterprises (SOEs) or firms with SOEs holding more than a 50% stake.

Third, they must commit to utilizing domestic supplies (workforce, service, products) during their investment, construction and operation, on the basis of ensuring competitiveness of prices, quality, schedule, and available capability.

For operational projects, the transations must meet the “second” requirement mentioned above.

Project

Law on national defence, security industry, industrial mobilisation passed

Published

3 hours ago

March 17, 2025

Industrialzone.net

The 15th National Assembly (NA) on June 27 passed the law on national defence-security industry and industrial mobilisation in its ongoing seventh plenary session.

Specifically, all the 464 deputies present in the sitting, or 95.47% of the total number of deputies, said “yes” to the law.

The law comprises seven chapters and 86 articles.

Article 80 in the draft law proposed earlier about the responsibilities of People’s Court was removed, while Article 28 was added on the development of technologies with dual purposes and Article 71 on training, research, and expert exchanges to serve defence-security industry.

The law will take effects from July 1, 2025.