Vietnam has become a ‘hot spot’ in the world’s map of technology bases after giants like Samsung, Microsoft, Intel, and Apple decided to develop high-technology production projects here.

In the region, Apple also has R&D centers in China, Taiwan and Japan, and is going to open a new center in India.

Apple once stirred the Vietnamese electronics market late last year when setting up Apple Vietnam, a limited company in HCM City. Analysts believe that unlike the $1 billion project, the limited company simply will be in charge of distributing Apple’s tablets and smartphones in Vietnam.

Vietnam is an attractive mobile phone market despite the low income per capita of $2,000 per annum. According to IDC, 28.7 million mobile phone products were distributed in Vietnam in 2014, an increase of 13 percent over the year before. This included 11.6 million smartphones, an increase of 57 percent if compared with 2013.

Most of the projects developed by the world’s technology conglomerates in Vietnam so far have large scale.

Vietnam has become a ‘hot spot’ in the world’s map of technology bases after giants like Samsung, Microsoft, Intel, and Apple decided to develop high-technology production projects here.

Samsung has invested nearly $10 billion so far in its projects in Vietnam, while Intel $1 billion and LG $1.5 billion. Vietnam could become one of the world’s leading electronics exporters.

If Apple opens a center in Vietnam, this would help attract more foreign investors to the country, while Vietnam’s industry would have opportunities to approachvelite technologies in the world.

Samsung has also developed a mobile phone R&D center (SVMC) in Vietnam, the group’s biggest center in ASEAN.

However, analysts say, the benefits are still on paper. It is unclear what the Apple’s R&D center would do in Vietnam and if Vietnamese businesses can get any benefits from the giant.

R&D is not a simple matter for developing countries like Vietnam. Acer’s Stan Shih has said R&D is the most complicated phase of the value chain which brings the highest added value to manufacturers, while assembling is the phase which brings the lowest value.

Though Apple has many R&D centers in the world, its nerve-center is in California. Meanwhile, the assembling is carried out in Brazil and China.

Apple last year also set up an R&D in Indonesia. The Indonesian government has asked Apple to use at least 30 percent of smartphone’s accessories to be provided by domestic enterprises, or it would not allow Apple’s products to be sold in Indonesia.

Vietnamnet.vn