As one of the first three high-tech parks in the country established by the Prime Minister, the Saigon Hi-Tech Park (SHTP) is regarded as one of the most successful among industrial parks and export processing zones (EPZs) nationwide. After more than two decades of development, SHTP is proud to serve as a key highlight of Ho Chi Minh City and the country in attracting high-tech investment, becoming a trusted destination for domestic tech enterprises and multinational corporations. To learn more about SHTP's strategic role as the growth nucleus of the city, Vietnam Business Forum has an exclusive interview with Mr. Nguyen Ky Phung, Head of the SHTP Management Board.
Could you tell us more about “bright colors” in the SHTP investment picture as well as its great impacts on Ho Chi Minh City and the whole country?
As of December 31, 2024, SHTP had a total of 160 valid projects with nearly VND250,671 billion (US$12.5 billion) of investment capital, including VND201,345 billion (US$10.298 billion) in 50 FDI projects and nearly VND49,326 billion in 110 domestic investment projects.
The Saigon Hi-Tech Park serves as the pioneering site for the implementation of Vietnam’s first microchip development program
Over 22 years of development, SHTP with the presence of domestic and foreign high-tech projects (especially those from world-leading high-tech firms like Intel, Nidec, NTT, Jabil, Sanofi and Besi) has helped improve the investment environment of HCM City, the Southern Key Economic Zone and the whole country. At the same time, SHTP has formed and developed the endogenous capacity of a high-tech workforce which can undertake tasks from high-tech transfer and application, R&D, training, incubation and startup to high-tech product manufacturing (made in Vietnam); promoted economic restructuring, transformed the city's economic growth pattern from breadth to depth and developed strong high-tech companies with robust competitiveness to join global value chains; and laid the foundation for spreading high-tech to the outside.
Notably, SHTP is proud to be the first place to carry out the country's initial microchip development program. In addition to incubating semiconductor chip companies, investing in experimental production of Lab to Fab wafers, developing MEMS industry and design houses, the SHTP Management Board has actively attracted strong investment funds for chip and electronic component manufacturing, research and designing projects and training human resources to develop the semiconductor chip ecosystem. To date, SHTP has 37 projects (25 electronics projects and 12 chip projects) with a total investment fund of US$7.76 billion. In the 2025-2030 period, SHTP will continue to lead semiconductor chip development in HCM City and will attract 20 semiconductor chip companies, including one strategic investor.
Moreover, SHTP has been focusing on drawing investment projects to expand technological capacity in high value-added foundation industries based on some common factors like using advanced technologies, emerging technologies and high-tech industries; proactively participating in the Fourth Industrial Revolution; making products and technologies with high R&D content; exchanging and transferring technologies to boost scientific and technological development with endogenous capacity; fostering the city's competitive advantages in terms of sector, cost and high-quality human resources to perfect the sectoral ecosystem; improving the capacity of local companies to join global supply chains; making advanced high-tech products that can penetrate foreign markets; having internationally accepted pollution-free working environment; having infrastructure readiness; and advancing towards green and sustainable development.
The development of SHTP has demonstrated Ho Chi Minh City’s right approach and project implementation strategy: creating a favorable environment to attract high-tech projects from globally renowned firms with proprietary technologies.
From a barren agricultural land of former Thu Duc district’s marshland (present-day Thu Duc City), a national high-tech center was formed. This place concentrates and links high-tech research and development (R&D), high-tech application, high-tech incubation, high-tech human resource training, high-tech production and trading, and high-tech service delivery. SHTP has made an important contribution to implementing the resolution of the HCM City Party Congress by accelerating economic restructuring and improving high-tech driven growth quality (SHTP's high-tech product and service export value accounts for more than 40% of the city's high-tech product export value).
By country and territory, in the 2006-2024 period, domestic projects accounted for 68.75% (110 out of 160 active projects) and 19.56% of total licensed investment value at SHTP. In 2022-2024 alone, SHTP attracted six new domestic projects, accounting for 54.54% of all 11 licensed projects. Optimistically, the domestic investment fund in this period was 5.29 times higher than that of foreign investors. This very important sign proved that domestic companies have really grown in high-tech. SHTP has adopted the right strategy of taking a shortcut for scientific and technological development: Focus on attracting foreign high-tech FDI projects in the early stages to create a high-tech production environment and then transfer high-tech through human resources working for FDI firms, and gradually implementing the scientific and technological development strategy with endogenous capacity.
As a national high-tech park that leads high-tech development in the country, SHTP has also contributed significantly to institutional construction and perfection for high-tech development.
The Ho Chi Minh City’s plan for 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050, presents significant opportunities for SHTP. What strategic steps will SHTP take to capitalize on these opportunities?
According to the planning, HCM City will be a global, civilized, modern, humanitarian, dynamic and creative city by 2030 and an attractive and sustainable global city, an Asian economic, financial and service center with distinctive economic and cultural development and well-off people by 2050.
With its core role in the city's GDP growth, SHTP will prioritize expanding its area (adding the Science and Technology Park), becoming a Science and Technology Park, and creating the most favorable environment for research and development, technology incubation and technology commercialization. SHTP will be developed into a mixed research and development center, a driving science and technology core to boost the rapid development of the Southeast region in the light of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It will strongly develop and enhance scientific and technological application and innovation by building and implementing the project establishing the Ho Chi Minh City Institute of Advanced Technology and Innovation, upgrading the High-tech Business Incubator into an Innovation Center, and upgrading the SHTP Training Center into a world-class training center.
SHTP will further give priority to electronics, semiconductor chip and artificial intelligence industries. In particular, it will focus on attracting technologies to develop chip, digital transformation, biotechnology applied in medicine and human healthcare, precision mechanics, automation for civil aviation and aerospace, security, defense and smart manufacturing.
SHTP is always consistent to follow its working principle of "Placing businesses at the center of service" to enhance their potential and competitiveness in domestic and international markets and strengthen the role of guiding important sectors and fields of the economy.
| By 2025, SHTP is expected to attract US$560 million in investment capital (including US$200 million from existing projects) and generate a high-tech production value of US$20 billion. It will also implement the Ho Chi Minh City Chip Technology Development Program at SHTP. |
In line with the Government’s policy on streamlining the administrative apparatus, HCM City’s entire political system is making strong efforts to restructure. What specific measures have you implemented to align with this major transformation?
The SHTP Management Board reviewed, rearranged and streamlined the apparatus according to Conclusion 09-KL/TW dated November 24, 2024 of the Central Executive Committee, Resolution 18-NQ/TW dated October 25, 2017 of the 6th Conference of the 12th Party Central Executive Committee on "Some issues on continued reform and arrangement of the apparatus of the political system for greater leanness, effectiveness and efficiency" and the direction of the HCM City People's Committee of implementing the 2025 Theme on "Focused arrangement of the streamlined - lean - strong - efficient - effective - outperforming apparatus". The board also promoted digital transformation, implemented Resolution 98/2023/QH15 of the National Assembly, and fundamentally resolved the city's difficulties and backlogs.
Thank you very much!
By Thanh Tung, Vietnam Business Forum
Vietnamese
