Vingroup, Vietnam’s biggest private-sector company, said on Wednesday that it planned to expand into artificial intelligence, software and big data and set up a Silicon Valley-style tech hub in Hanoi.
The sprawling Vietnamese group, which is already involved in real estate, retail, agriculture, education, carmaking and mobile phones, announced it was creating VinTech, its newest business unit, at a ceremony in the Vietnamese capital. Vingroup said that it aimed to become “an international-standard technology-industry-service conglomerate” within 10 years.
The news came on the same day Vingroup said it would raise $400m through a preferential share issue to a unit of a South Korean insurance company.
Vingroup said that VinTech would specialise in developing AI products, software programmes and new-generation materials. It said that it had set up two new research institutions devoted to big data and high tech, as well as a technology investment fund focused on projects “that are applicable on a global scale”.
“Investments in the two sectors will not only help Vingroup reach new heights, but also create a new tech-industry environment to boost Vietnam in the world’s technology ceremony,” said Nguyen Viet Quang, Vingroup’s deputy general director.
As well as its tech push, Vinagroup announced it would issue 84m convertible dividend preference shares to Hanwha Asset Management, a unit of South Korea’s Hanwha Life Insurance, in a private placement at Vnd110,976 ($4.76) per share. The shares will be restricted from trading for a year.
The company said that it had committed to employing 100,000 technology students within 10 years, and planned to build a tech hub in the Vietnamese capital modelled on Silicon Valley. Vingroup gave no details of the amount it planned to invest in the fund, or its foray into high tech.
The push into tech will mark the latest move into a new business area by a company that describes itself as a “cradle to grave” supplier of goods and services to Vietnam’s fast-growing economy, and is positioning itself as a partner of choice for foreign companies seeking to enter the market.
It will come at a time when the country’s communist rulers are seeking to promote “national champion” local producers in areas such as carmaking and pharmaceuticals.
Vingroup has over the past year listed Vincom Retail and Vinhomes, its retail and real estate arms, and embarked on a bold but risky move into car and scooter production through VinFast, its vehicle manufacturing division. Vinfast’s partners and vendors include General Motors, BMW and Siemens, with which Vingroup agreed earlier this month to produce electric buses.
Separately, Vingroup last month announced an agreement with the Spanish company BQ to produce smartphones under the Vsmart brand name.
“They are moving away from their original core business of real estate into a new core business of lifestyle,” said Fiachra Mac Cana, head of research at Ho Chi Minh City Securities. “Perhaps we need to look at comparative companies in countries like South Korea and Japan, where you have your classic chaebol with five or six businesses that is seen as a national champion.
” Vingroup was founded in 1993 under the name Techcom by Pham Nhat Vuong, a former geology student in Moscow, who developed what was to become Ukraine’s top instant noodle brand.
The company grew rich as Vietnam’s economy opened to the world, and Forbes lists his net worth as $6.7bn, making him the country’s richest man.
Archive
- October 2024(19)
- September 2024(94)
- August 2024(100)
- July 2024(99)
- June 2024(126)
- May 2024(155)
- April 2024(123)
- March 2024(112)
- February 2024(109)
- January 2024(95)
- December 2023(56)
- November 2023(86)
- October 2023(97)
- September 2023(89)
- August 2023(101)
- July 2023(104)
- June 2023(113)
- May 2023(103)
- April 2023(93)
- March 2023(129)
- February 2023(77)
- January 2023(91)
- December 2022(90)
- November 2022(125)
- October 2022(117)
- September 2022(137)
- August 2022(119)
- July 2022(99)
- June 2022(128)
- May 2022(112)
- April 2022(108)
- March 2022(121)
- February 2022(93)
- January 2022(110)
- December 2021(92)
- November 2021(107)
- October 2021(101)
- September 2021(81)
- August 2021(74)
- July 2021(78)
- June 2021(92)
- May 2021(67)
- April 2021(79)
- March 2021(79)
- February 2021(58)
- January 2021(55)
- December 2020(56)
- November 2020(59)
- October 2020(78)
- September 2020(72)
- August 2020(64)
- July 2020(71)
- June 2020(74)
- May 2020(50)
- April 2020(71)
- March 2020(71)
- February 2020(58)
- January 2020(62)
- December 2019(57)
- November 2019(64)
- October 2019(25)
- September 2019(24)
- August 2019(14)
- July 2019(23)
- June 2019(54)
- May 2019(82)
- April 2019(76)
- March 2019(71)
- February 2019(67)
- January 2019(75)
- December 2018(44)
- November 2018(47)
- October 2018(74)
- September 2018(54)
- August 2018(61)
- July 2018(72)
- June 2018(62)
- May 2018(62)
- April 2018(73)
- March 2018(76)
- February 2018(8)
- January 2018(7)
- December 2017(6)
- November 2017(8)
- October 2017(3)
- September 2017(4)
- August 2017(4)
- July 2017(2)
- June 2017(5)
- May 2017(6)
- April 2017(11)
- March 2017(8)
- February 2017(16)
- January 2017(10)
- December 2016(12)
- November 2016(20)
- October 2016(7)
- September 2016(102)
- August 2016(168)
- July 2016(141)
- June 2016(149)
- May 2016(117)
- April 2016(59)
- March 2016(85)
- February 2016(153)
- December 2015(150)