Some American companies have already started investing in Vietnam. Apple began assembling AirPods in Vietnam in 2020, and in 2022, Nikkei Asia reported that the company was also moving assembly of some Apple Watches and MacBooks there. Intel has invested $1.5 billion in a large chip packaging and assembly plant that produces components including 5G chipsets. Reuters reported this month that the company had considered, but ultimately abandoned, a plan to expand its operations in Vietnam. Marvell and Synopsys, two American chip companies, have announced plans to build chip design centers in the country.
New deals were promised during Biden’s visit last month. The White House said Microsoft would develop generative AI tailored to the Vietnamese market, without specifying what the company plans to offer, and that Nvidia would partner with FPT, a large software company, and Vingroup, a conglomerate that owns a range of high-tech products. technology companies, including domestic electric vehicle maker VinFast.
Although investment in Vietnam is expected to continue to increase, experts warn that the American dream of complete decoupling from China may remain just a dream.
“Everyone is talking about the need to dissociate from China,” says Zachary Abuza, a professor who studies politics and security issues in Southwest Asia at the National War College in Washington, DC. He prefers to describe American investments in Vietnam as examples of diversification. “Show me a big company that’s going to completely decouple,” he says.
“Even Apple, which might want to move a line to Vietnam or a line to India, is not abandoning China,” Abuza adds. “China is unprecedented globally, in terms of the scale it can offer, in terms of its workforce, but also in terms of the ecosystem as a whole. »
Nguyễn Thị Xuân Thuý, an industry expert, says improving Vietnam’s national ecosystem will benefit both national ambitions and U.S. diversification goals, but adds that success is not guaranteed . “No matter how big the opportunity, if we don’t have the capacity to seize it, it will be passed on to others,” says Thuý. Vietnam’s neighbors and competitors Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia are also keen to welcome new technology investments.
Vietnam also needs to think about its own relations with China. It is one of the few countries in the region pushing back against China due to Beijing’s vast territorial claims in the South China Sea. But the fact that China was barely mentioned in Vietnamese media coverage of Biden’s trip reflects the government’s need to maintain strong ties even as it moves closer to the United States.
Following Biden’s visit, The Washington Post reported that Vietnamese agents attempted to install spyware on the phones of American politicians, policymakers and journalists before the trip.
Yên, head of engineering at CoAsia Semi Vietnam, said he would like to get more details from the Vietnamese government on investments and policies to develop the manufacturing industry. “If we just talk without taking concrete steps, everything could collapse in two to three months,” he says. “Looking back, after two or three years, there may be no progress.”
