Project

Koreans primed for high-tech investment

Published

8 hours ago

March 14, 2025

South Korean businesses are expected to put more money into tech fields such as AI, semiconductors, and green energy to make Vietnam a global investment hub.

Samsung is continuously looking to expand its activities in Vietnam, photo Le Toan

At last week’s meeting between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and leaders of 35 of South Korea’s largest corporations, businesses made numerous recommendations related to policy stabilisation, legal framework improvement, the Investment Support Fund, simplifying import-export procedures, and modernising the logistics and tax systems.

Many also mentioned funding opportunities and raised recommendations in areas such as semiconductors, high technology, green energy, automobiles, liquefied natural gas, biotechnology, and more.

Ko Tae Yeon, chairman of the Korean Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (KoCham), appreciated the status of Vietnam in the global supply chain and its close cooperation with South Korea.

“Attracting foreign investment in semiconductors, AI, and green energy will help Vietnam to become a leader in the high-tech sector,” he said. “South Korean businesses are ready to cooperate in these areas in the near future.”

Yeon said that such businesses can also participate in design, manufacturing, and human resource training in key projects such as the North-South high-speed railway and nuclear power.

KoCham and South Korean businesses wish to contribute to Vietnam’s development on its journey to become a global investment hub by fostering sustainable green economic development and innovation.

Despite many difficulties, over 80 per cent of South Korean businesses believe that the Vietnamese government effectively responds to external fluctuations, according to a KoCham survey. They have confidence in Vietnam’s diplomatic capabilities and foreign support policies.

Na Ki Hong, newly-appointed president of Samsung Vietnam, said that many foreign investors appreciate the Vietnamese government’s Investment Support Fund as they consider it an effort to protect them. Many countries now consider the development of the semiconductor and AI industries as matters directly linked to national security.

“They are preparing many diverse support policies at the government level,” he said. “Vietnam is also following this trend and is considering various incentive policies, including the Law on Digital Technology Industry. Samsung and other businesses are paying a lot of attention to this, and policymakers should prioritise the development of substantial preferential mechanisms to reassure high-tech businesses.”

South Korean businesses operating in Vietnam are increasing in number, with expanding scale and increasing diversity. While total global investment is dropping, registered South Korean funding in Vietnam is still rising.

South Korean semiconductor manufacturer Amkor Technology is applying to raise the capacity of its $1.6-billion factory in the northern province of Bac Ninh from $1.2 billion to $3.6 billion products annually. The factory has been in operation since Q3 last year and gained $13.5 million in export value in 2024.

The expansion will include the installation of machinery and equipment, plating lines, plating wastewater pretreatment modules, and a gas treatment system generated from the plating line.

Samsung Vietnam, meanwhile, plans to expand its activities in new fields and has asked for continued support in its operations from the government. In February, at a private meeting with the prime minister, its leader stated the company’s intention to expand capital in new fields, and become an integral part of the digital transformation in Vietnam.

Conglomerate Hyosung has poured about $4 billion in Vietnam, including a biotechnology manufacturing plant and a carbon fiber plant in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, with a total investment of $1.3 billion. The group plans to continue expanding its investment in building data centres, manufacturing high-tech industrial materials, and sustainable biofuels.

Hyundai Motor and Lotte Group have also been expanding investment in fields such as automobile manufacturing, retail, and entertainment.

In January, LG received approval to add $1 billion to the LG Display factory in the northern port city of Haiphong to raise its total investment to $5.65 billion.

Last year, South Korean businesses pumped $7 billion into Vietnam, a 37.5 per cent increase compared to 2023, bringing the accumulative foreign capital in the country to $92 billion. There are around 10,000 South Korean companies in Vietnam, which have created more than 900,000 jobs.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh hoped that South Korean investors would continue to improve production and business activities in Vietnam and consider it as a key hub in their supply chain, as well as accelerate advanced tech transfer.

“South Korean enterprises should expand in new technologies, high-tech industries, and clean technologies that offer high added value and boost the global production and supply chain,” the PM said.

He called on South Korean businesses to invest in semiconductors, AI, renewable energy, digital finance, biotechnology, smart manufacturing, and the digital economy while encouraging cooperation in processing and manufacturing, real estate, infrastructure, telecommunications, tourism, culture, and entertainment.

The PM also encouraged South Korean businesses to share their experiences to utilise the startup ecosystem by supporting venture capital funds and connecting startups from both countries, while participating in Vietnam’s innovation centres and establishing more research and development centres.

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Vietnam must develop nuclear energy as baseload to double power capacity by 2030: Deputy PM

Published

1 hour ago

March 14, 2025

Industrialzone.net

As Vietnam has to increase its power capacity by 70,000 MW before 2030 with renewable energy playing a major role, developing nuclear energy as baseload for the system is inevitable, said Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh.

Binh made the statement at a Sunday working session with the Dalat Nuclear Research Institute in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong.

Doubling the energy capacity to ensure sufficient energy supply is crucial to Vietnam’s target of economic growth over 10% annually in the next era, Binh emphasized.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh (right) works with the Dalat Nuclear Research Institute in Lam Dong province, Vietnam's Central Highlands, March 2, 2025. Photo courtesy of the government's news portal. — Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh (right) works with the Dalat Nuclear Research Institute in Lam Dong province, Vietnam’s Central Highlands, March 2, 2025. Photo courtesy of the government’s news portal.

Therefore, Binh called on the institute to research and develop nuclear technology, approaching global standards to help the country’s growth.

Vietnam is now capable of developing and will prioritize nuclear science, he added.

The country had increased its power sources by 1,500 MW to 82,400 MW as of end-2024, Vietnam Electricity (EVN) said at its 2024 performance review. The figure was the highest in Southeast Asia, the state utility added.

In 2005, Vietnam’s Party Central Committee greenlighted a plan to build two nuclear power plants in the south-central province of Ninh Thuan. Four years later, the National Assembly okayed the plan with an initial investment of VND200 trillion ($7.9 billion at the current forex rate).

In November 2016, the parliament decided to halt the 4,000 MW project, citing safety, funding and technology reasons. In November 2024, it agreed to resume the nuclear power project in Ninh Thuan after an eight-year suspension.

Many countries have expressed their willingness to coooperate with Vietnam in nuclear power, such as South Korea, Russia, Japan, and France.

Project

Industrial production on the mend: Deputy Minister

Published

3 hours ago

March 14, 2025

Industrialzone.net

Vietnam’s industrial production has continued its rosy signs since late 2023, promising a bright prospect for the country in the time ahead, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Phan Thi Thang said at the Government’s regular press conference in Hanoi on August 5.

According to the official, Vietnam’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) in July 2024 reached 54.7 points, the highest since November 2018, with output increasing sharply thanks to increasing new orders for four consecutive months.

The index industrial production (IIP) in July grew by 0.7% over the previous month and 11.2% year-on-year, Thang said, noting the index saw increases in 60 provinces and centrally-run cities in the first seven months of this year.

She attributed the result to improvements in the production capacity of domestic businesses that have also shown their readiness to optimise opportunities to access new markets in the time to come.

Additionally, the deputy minister said, support policies and the drastic instructions of the Government and the Prime Minister in public investment disbursement and the implementation of key industrial projects have helped consolidate the confidence of both domestic and foreign firms.

The official also pointed to a range of challenges such as intrinsic weaknesses, regional and global volatilities, the risk of global supply chain disruptions, and the reliance on some export-import markets, along with the pressure of trade remedy investigations.

Given this, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will speed up public investment disbursement, review obstacles to key projects in electricity, oil and gas, processing and manufacturing, and minerals in order to soon put them into operation, and continue its cooperation with FDI firms and big enterprises at home and abroad as well as international organisations to step up connectivity and improve capacity for domestic suppliers.

The ministry will also encourage the purchase of home-made goods, and seek new markets for key exports, Thang added.

Project

Petrovietnam to complete $1.5 bln Long Phu 1 thermal power plant in 2027

Published

4 hours ago

March 14, 2025

Industrialzone.net

State-owned energy giant Petrovietnam aims to restart the idling Long Phu 1 thermal power project, located in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang, and complete it in 2027, according to the draft amendments to the power development plan VIII (PDP VIII).

Petrovietnam was assigned as investor of the $1.5 billion coal-fired power project in 2010. In 2014, Petrovietnam signed deals to assign Russia’s Power Machine and its technical arm Petrovietnam Technical Service Corporation (PTSC) as engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractors.

Long Phu 1 thermal power project in Soc Trang province, Mekong Delta. southern Vietnam. Photo courtesy of PetroTimes magazine.

In January 2018, when the project reached 78% completion, the United States had deployed sanctions against Russia due to the Crimea issues, leading to challenges in project implementation. In March 2019, Power Machine stopped construction activities at the project site.

According to the ministry’s document, Petrovietnam is restarting the project and amending the project’s feasibility study.

Long Phu 1 is one of five under-construction coal-fired power plants in Vietnam, the ministry noted. The others are the 1,330 MW Vung Ang II, 110 MW Na Duong II, 1,403 MW Quang Trach I, and 650 MW An Khanh-Bac Giang.

Meanwhile, five projects are facing challenges, namely the 600 MW Cong Thanh, 1,200 MW Nam Dinh I, 1,320 MW Quang Tri, 1,980 MW Vinh Tan III, and 2,120 MW Song Hau II.

The Cong Thanh is waiting for approval to use LNG as feedstock, while Quang Tri, Vinh Tan III, and Song Hau II have stopped or do not have any investor yet. Nam Dinh I is progressing to begin construction later this year.