At a workshop of Samsung Electronics Vietnam in Yen Binh Industrial Park in Pho Yen town, Thai Nguyen province (Archive photo: Anh Tuan/VNA)

According to the article, Vietnam’s smartphone dominance is in large part due to huge investments by the Republic of Korea’s Samsung. Vietnam is determined to pivot from labor-intensive textiles and electrical assembly work to more profitable sectors like semiconductors. Foreign investors are keen to help.

Vietnam’s booming economy has remained below the radar for most foreign investors for one simple reason: Vietnam is still not classified as an emerging market by MSCI, noted the article. An upgrade to emerging market (EM) status would prompt large inflows from funds that track the benchmark EM index.

But, according to the article, even as a frontier market, Vietnam is a compelling play.