(VOVworld) – In recent years, Ho Chi Minh City has made a great deal of investment in building high tech parks to try to create a breakthrough in socio-economic development and international integration. The success so far suggests the city is moving in the right direction.

Samsung ordered a list of 170 parts from Vietnamese suppliers last August to increase localisation.

The Sai Gon High Tech Park (SHTP) is one of three high tech zones attracting such prominent technology groups as Intel (US), Jabil (US), Nidec (Japan), and Datalogic (Italy). Le Manh Ha, Deputy Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City’s People’s Committee, says: “the high-tech park plays an important role in the city’s socio-economic development. It has become the center of high-tech production and now the US’ Intel and Korea’s Samsung, and a number of other companies in food and biological technologies have chosen to invest in the high-tech park. It is an incubator of scientific research.” 

Last year, the SHTP lured 10 foreign investment projects with registered capital of nearly 2 billion USD. In 12 years it has created exports worth 3 billion USD and earned 10 billion USD from high-tech projects. The park now has 60 projects underway. More than half of them are already in operation.

In 2014, the South Korean electronics manufacturer Samsung invested 1.4 billion USD in a project known as the Samsung CE Complex (SECC) to manufacture electronic devices.

The complex will produce TV sets, air conditioners, refrigerators, and washing machines to expedite sales in Vietnam of Samsung products currently being imported.

The group will also build a research and development (R&D) center to develop software for its electronic products. The facility is scheduled for operation in the second quarter of 2016, creating jobs for about 6,000 people. Le Hoai Quoc, the director of the Sai Gon High-tech Park’s Management Board, comments: “the park’s development direction has been based on the needs of Ho Chi Minh City, to provide a center of qualified human resources and international exchanges and in particular a venue for domestic and foreign scientists and researchers. We will make full use of these advantages and potential to create added value in production, research, and training, with special attention to turning research ideas into commercial products that serve public needs.”

In 12 years the SHTP’s initial successes have ramped up high-tech attraction and gone a long way toward putting Vietnam on the global high-tech map.