Ho Chi Minh City Hits $17.8B FDI as Mega Projects Line Up

FTZ News: Ho Chi Minh City says the merger with Binh Duong and Ba Ria-Vung Tau has given it more ground for foreign plants, ports and data sites. The year’s foreign-investment take is already past the target.

According to Vietnam News Agency, in a report on Oct. 6, Vice Chairman Nguyen Cong Vinh said the city took in more than $17.8 billion in foreign direct investment in the first nine months, 4.2 times the same period last year. The full-year target had been $11 billion. Registered foreign investment for 2026 is estimated at about $19 billion. Social investment raised in the nine months was 541.6 trillion dong. Gross regional product grew 9.06 percent, or 9.16 percent if oil and gas are left out.

Quach Ngoc Tuan, deputy director of the city finance department, said the old method of chasing registered capital is running short of room. The city, he said, is turning toward higher-quality projects. The piece ties that to Politburo Resolution 10, which it says steers the foreign-invested sector away from the size of the check and toward the quality of the project.

Two licenses have dates. In early September the finance department gave Tokgistic Pte. Ltd., of Singapore, a registration certificate for Swift Logistics Co., Ltd. Registered investment is more than 25.85 trillion dong, about $980 million. The investor’s own capital is $196 million, 20 percent. The term is 50 years. Operations are set for November. TikTok Shop Vietnam was licensed in April at $125 million, after talks with the People’s Committee.

The bigger names are still proposals. Can Gio International Transshipment Port is put at more than $4.9 billion. An AI Factory data center is put at about $2.1 billion, with another $2.8 billion proposed. At Saigon Hi-tech Park, Nguyen Ky Phung, head of the management board, said two new foreign projects were licensed in the nine months, nearly $590 million, about 48 percent of newly registered capital there. The park’s new work is data infrastructure, smart electronics and high-tech services.

The agency said the city is also talking about paperwork, disbursement and ties between foreign and local firms. It did not say the port or the data center has broken ground./.