US and Vietnamese business leaders from sectors involving computer chips, aviation and artificial intelligence (AI) gathered in Hanoi on Monday during President Joe Biden’s visit to Vietnam.
Business leaders from Google, Intel, Amkor, Marvell, GlobalFoundries and Boeing attended the Vietnam-US Innovation & Investment Summit.
From Vietnam, there were executives from half a dozen companies, such as Nasdaq-listed electric car maker VinFast, flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, tech company FPT, MoMo, the country’s biggest e-wallet by users, as well as internet firm VNG, which filed in August for a US IPO.
Biden noted at the meeting that the two countries were deepening cooperation in cloud computing, semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and stressed Vietnam was crucial for critical minerals supplies. The country has some of the world’s biggest estimated deposits of rare earths, which are used in electric vehicles and wind turbines.
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The meeting, which followed a historic upgrade of diplomatic relations agreed on Sunday, underscored US desire to boost Vietnam’s global role. This is particularly so in chipmaking with Washington seeking to reduce the sector’s exposure to China-linked risks, including trade friction and tensions over Taiwan.
US State Secretary Antony Blinken and Vietnam’s investment minister Nguyen Chi Dzung chaired the meeting, which was followed by discussions with Biden and Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.
Newly unveiled deals by the White House include plans by Microsoft to make a “generative AI-based solution tailored for Vietnam and emerging markets.”
Nvidia will also partner with Vietnam’s FPT, Viettel and Vingroup, VinFast’s parent company, on AI in the country, it said.
Chip design centres, assembly plants
The White House also highlighted the number of chip-related investments by US firms in Vietnam, including plans by Marvell and Synopsys to build chip design centres in the country.
A new $1.6 billion Amkor factory near Hanoi that will assemble, package and test chips is due to start operations in October, it added.
The investment value is on par with Intel’s $1.5-billion chip assembling plant in the south of the country – the company’s biggest worldwide. Sources said earlier this year that it may be expanded.
Vietnam Airlines will also purchase 50 Boeing 737 Max jets, the White House said, in an agreement that a source said was valued at about $7.5 billion.
US conglomerate Honeywell will cooperate with a Vietnamese partner to launch a pilot project to develop Vietnam’s first battery energy storage system, the White House also said.
The US government has also vowed to extend its dioxin remediation project in and around the Bien Hoa Air Base (just east of Ho Chi Minh City in the country’s south) for a further five years, by raising an existing agreement from $183 million to $300 million.
That should see an additional $55 million spent over the next year, along with investments from USAID and the Department of Defense.
- Reuters with additional editing by Jim Pollard
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