Poised to witness a GDP growth of near 7 by next year, now Vietnam sets its eyes on dethroning China as a ‘Number One Tech Hub’ as industry giants look for alternative markets after facing repeated disruptions due to the country’s harsh COVID curbs.
While Vietnam looks set to outpace its neighbour on the economic growth front, it has everything, starting from cheap labour to political stability.
Apple, Google and Samsung are all set to shift their manufacturing activities to the Southeast Asian nation, Apple suppliers Foxconn and Luxshare Precision Industry will establish their plants for Apple Watches and MacBooks soon.
Taiwan-based Foxconn, which has entered into a USD 19.5 billion deal with Vedanta for establishing a semiconductor plant in India, will pump USD 300 million into Vietnam’s economy.
JP Morgan has predicted some 65% of AirPods being manufactured in the nation by 2025. Google’s Pixel smartphones will come out from Vietnam factories in 2023 and Samsung will start its semiconductor plant by next year.
Vietnam’s journey as a tech hub started with its economic liberalisation in the late 1980s. It was a follower of the ‘Zero COVID’ policy, till the rollout of vaccines. As per media reports, exports drove its economic growth, with USD 186 billion getting pumped into Vietnam’s economy by June 2022.
Its foreign policy too has been business-centric, as the country participated in 15 free trade pacts in recent years, getting an edge over its neighbours Indonesia and the Philippines.