Foreign investors flock to invest in the south

A view of HCM City. The HCM City People's Committee has organised a conference on investment promotion in the US. —VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI - Foreign investors have recently rushed to southern Vietnamese provinces and cities to look for investment opportunities and locations.

Last week, more than 40 German enterprises came to Đồng Nai Province to learn about potential investments there.

Alexander Ziehe, chairman of the Association of German Enterprises in Việt Nam, said he is very impressed with the open and professional environment that Đồng Nai is creating for foreign businesses, including for German enterprises, the Đầu tư (Investment) newspaper reported.

Meanwhile, since the beginning of the year, Đồng Nai has also welcomed representatives of business associations from South Korea, Japan and India to learn about the investment environment. Investors have shown interest in developing projects in the province.

These include Harbor Star Engineering Global Group (South Korea)'s urban, commercial, service, entertainment and logistics projects around the Long Thành Airport, and Aeon Mall Group (Japan)'s shopping centre in Biên Hòa City, with a total investment of more than VNĐ6 trillion.

US investors have also revealed plans for three high-tech projects in the fields of advanced optics, measurement and semiconductor manufacturing that would be built by Coherent Group, as well as plans by TWG Group to construct smart urban areas.

Meanwhile, a group of foreign investors have also met with the authorities of Bình Dương Province to outline plans for expansion of their investments in this province.

At the meeting, Yeh Ming Yuh, general director of Polytex Far Eastern Vietnam Co., Ltd., announced a plan to expand investment in Bình Dương to $1.54 billion.

Warburg Pincus Group (US) has also proposed to develop a cross-border e-commerce centre project in the province.

Bình Dương is also a major potential choice for AP Moller Maersk Group (Denmark) to invest in a large-scale logistics centre. Meanwhile, Tokyu Group (Japan) is researching and surveying locations to invest in semiconductor technology there.

HCM City has also received investment attention from several high-tech giants. In particular, delegations from NVIDIA Group (US) have come to the southern hub to find a location for an artificial intelligence (AI) research, development and training centre, and another location for partial production of a graphics processing unit (GPU) for supercomputers.

Other US giants have also suggested investment projects in HCM City, including Smart Tech Group's battery factory with a capital of $340-850 million, and an Evolution Group (under Warburg Pincus Investment Fund) data centre in the City's High-Tech Park.

Meanwhile, some southern localities have organised investment promotion programmes abroad to call for more foreign investment.

The HCM City People's Committee has organised a conference in the US promoting investment in the metropolis. At the conference, a series of agreements and memorandums of understanding were signed between the city and US partners.

In response to HCM City's investment invitation, in mid-November 2024, a delegation of leading US investment funds came to the city to discuss an IPO and the building of a financial centre in the southern hub.

More than 30 US businesses are scheduled to arrive in HCM City early next year to implement their signed agreements.

Long An Province also held a trade and investment promotion conference in Europe from November 11 to 21. Provincial leaders worked with large corporations in France, Belgium and Germany in the fields of transportation, energy and industry, including France's Sotelanche Freysinet Group.

A provincial investment promotion delegation also attended the Việt Nam capital symposium in Frankfurt, Germany to connect with European enterprises investing in green transformation projects in Việt Nam.

Previously, Bình Dương and Đồng Nai provinces also organised a series of investment promotion conferences in their key markets, including Japan, South Korea and China.

Proactively researching investors' needs has helped Bình Dương come up with a suitable list of investment projects, so investment promotion activities are very effective, said Mai Hùng Dũng, vice chairman of the Bình Dương Provincial People's Committee.