Vietnam an emerging hub in global smart manufacturing

An attractive destination

Many foreign investors and major global corporations have chosen Vietnam as a top destination due to its strategic geographic location. Vietnam is a key manufacturing hub to benefit from the China Plus One strategy. It is situated along transportation routes adjacent to South China and along East Asia. Vietnam is one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.

Vietnam has a young and large workforce, a rapidly growing consumer market with a population surpassing 100 million people, and a quickly expanding middle class. The service and e-commerce sectors contribute more than 40 percent to the country’s annual GDP.

Mazda car assembly line in Vietnam

Notably, Vietnam is actively integrating into the global economy with an open and dynamic policy, having signed most of the major international conventions, protocols, and intellectual property protection agreements. So far, Vietnam has signed over 18 FTAs, providing trade advantages through countries in the APAC, ASEAN, Europe, and the American regions.

These advantages have helped Vietnam attract smart manufacturing projects from Europe, Japan, the Republic of Korea (RoK), China, Singapore, and Chinese Taipei. Many potential investors in the supporting industries for electronic components and semiconductors are also considering investments to seek cooperation opportunities with leading technology giants, such as NVIDIA from the US, ASML from the Netherlands, and Amkor and Seojin from the RoK.

Seizing opportunities

According to Liang Yang Hong, Director of the Zhong Yue Zhong Electronic International Trade City Co., Ltd., trade tensions between the US and China have accelerated the wave of large corporations shifting production out of China, with many small- and medium-sized enterprises within their supply chains following suit. Foreign investors with manufacturing plants in China have become more cautious about their supply chains and sought alternative sources. In this wave, Vietnam has emerged as an attractive destination.

Liang Yang Hong said that his company has invested in an industrial factory cluster in Bac Ninh Province, which has been fully occupied. The company has built a commercial center building in Bac Ninh City, which will serve as an office hub for electronics businesses and a place for the display and sale of electronic products and components.