Thanks to persistent policies and selective investment attraction mechanisms, Hai Phong has been and is becoming one of the national “hubs” for high-tech industry. This has made important contributions to the city’s development, affirming its status as a key economic sector and playing a significant role in the city’s and country’s industrialization and modernization efforts.
A Clear Position as a High-Tech Industrial Center
Recently, the City People’s Committee held a ceremony to grant investment registration certificates for 12 projects in industrial zones and economic zones (IZs, EZs) in the city, with a total investment capital of up to USD 1.8 billion.
Among these, the most notable project is the expansion investment project by LG Group from South Korea (LG Display Vietnam Hai Phong Co., Ltd.) in Trang Due Industrial Zone. The total investment capital increased from USD 4.65 billion to USD 5.65 billion (an increase of USD 1 billion). This is one of LG’s largest investments in Vietnam, specializing in the production of high-tech OLED displays with a scale of 14 million products/month. The project started in 2016 with an initial capital of USD 1.5 billion. After eight years of continuous expansion, it has added USD 4.15 billion, created jobs for over 22,000 workers, averaged USD 5.8 billion in annual exports, and contributed an average of VND 1 trillion/year to the state budget. Other investors from South Korea, Belgium, Taiwan, Singapore, China, etc., have also increased their capital or invested in new high-tech projects in the city, with investments ranging from USD 10 million to USD 169 million.
In May 2024, Ecovance Vietnam Co., Ltd. (a subsidiary of SK Group) officially started construction of the ECOVANCE high-tech biodegradable materials plant in Hai Phong. With a total investment of around USD 100 million, the project aims to produce raw materials, biodegradable plastic products, and related materials for bioplastic production. This is also SK’s first direct investment project in Vietnam, laying an important foundation for future business expansion and attracting SK’s supporting investors to Hai Phong.
Along with this, the proportion of FDI projects in high-tech, processing and manufacturing industries, seaports, and logistics has been increasing, reaching 83.3% in 2021, and over 81.8% in 2022 and 2023.
Mr. Le Trung Kien, Head of the Hai Phong Economic Zone Authority, said that in recent years, FDI projects in Hai Phong have shifted from expansion in breadth to depth, focusing on large-scale projects using high-tech, advanced, and environmentally friendly technologies. The products generated have high added value and are part of the global supply chain of major economic groups such as LG Group (USD 9.24 billion), Bridgestone Group – Japan (USD 1.22 billion), Regina Miracle Group – Hong Kong (USD 1 billion), etc.
Continuing Selective Investment Attraction
To ensure the continuous development of high-tech industry and achieve such positive results, the entire political system has made unceasing efforts. The city has focused on strong direction, mobilizing the participation of departments, agencies, and localities, along with many specific policies and action programs to realize its socio-economic development goals and industrial growth in particular. The city especially prioritizes investing in the completion and modernization of regional, national, and international transport infrastructure systems—by road, sea, river, air, and rail. It also prioritizes expanding transportation networks to directly connect industrial zones and clusters and plans for the development of concentrated industrial zones.
Hai Phong, in particular, has persistently pursued a strategy of filtering and attracting truly high-quality investors such as LG, Pegatron, USI, Bridgestone, SK, and others. Experience shows that once the city can attract these “giants,” it will pave the way to attract supporting and service enterprises to invest in the core project’s industrial zone or nearby industrial zones. Moreover, these “giants,” upon witnessing Hai Phong’s attractive investment environment, have continuously “poured in capital” to expand their business and production activities.
Mr. Choi In Kwan, a representative from LG Group, shared that Hai Phong is an ideal city for enterprises thanks to its good infrastructure—seaports, an international airport—and a skilled workforce. More importantly, city leaders always give timely support to FDI enterprises. For instance, even during the power supply issues in northern Vietnam, industrial zones, including Korean enterprises in Hai Phong, were still prioritized with continuous grid electricity, ensuring no impact on production. Businesses were also impressed when city leaders personally visited sites and promptly directed quick recovery after Typhoon No. 3. With this foundation, LG Group will continue to expand its investment in Hai Phong and Vietnam in the future.
The Politburo’s Resolution 45 on building and developing Hai Phong until 2030, with a vision to 2045, requires the city to lead the country in industrialization and modernization, becoming a development driver for the northern region and the entire nation, with a modern, intelligent, and sustainable industry. The Action Program No. 76 of the Hai Phong Party Committee sets the goal of basically completing industrialization and modernization by 2025, making Hai Phong a modern industrial city by 2030, ranked among Southeast Asia’s developed industrial cities. With LG, SK, Pegatron, and a series of new investment projects coming in, Hai Phong is confident it will achieve these goals, leading the nation in developing Industry 4.0 while producing world-class processing and manufacturing products.