Vietnam ICT industry: The majority belongs to FDI

Kinhtedothi – Just in the first 6 months of 2022, the ICT industry has brought a total revenue of more than 72 billion USD. However, the percentage of “Made in Vietnam” value still accounts for a rather modest part of more than 26%, equivalent to more than 19 billion USD.

ICT revenue grew strongly

Looking at the recently released figures of the Ministry of Information and Communications, it can be seen that, similar to the past few years, the ICT industry is still the leading field and accounts for the majority of the revenue of the entire ICT segment. In just the first 6 months of 2022, this industry brought in revenue of 72.5 billion USD, accounting for almost all of the total revenue of more than 78 billion USD of the TT&TT segment.

In which, the export of hardware and electronics continues to be the mainstay with export turnover reaching 57 billion USD, up 16.4% compared to the first 6 months of 2021. In which, computer exports reached 29.1 billion USD. USD increased by 21.8% and phone exports reached USD 27.9 billion, up 11.2% over the same period.

Comments from other independent entities such as HSBC also show that exports are the main driving force of the ICT industry. Accordingly, Vietnam is currently the world’s No. 2 smartphone producer, accounting for 13% of the total number of smartphones being sold worldwide, just behind China with 50%.

Not only that, but Vietnam is also the number 1 country in the ASEAN region in laptop production. At the same time, Vietnam is also one of the countries that provide microprocessors for assembled electronic devices around the world.

The wave of investment as well as the relocation of production and assembly facilities of electronic equipment into Vietnam has also continuously increased sharply in recent years. Not only do familiar investors like Samsung continue to pour more capital, but even Apple-related suppliers have begun to set foot in Vietnam. Accordingly, three Apple product assemblers, Foxconn, Luxshare, and Goertek, have announced large investment plans to increase capacity and increase the use of local workers.

According to the Ministry of Information and Communications, the first half of 2022 is also a time to witness a leap in the number of digital technology businesses. Up to now, Vietnam has 67,300 digital technology enterprises, an increase of 3,422 enterprises compared to the end of December 2021. Thereby achieving an approximate ratio of about 0.69 enterprises/1,000 people. This is also an important component to promote the revenue growth of the entire industry.

Research and production of high-tech equipment have also made great strides. By the end of June 2022, 5G equipment manufactured by domestic enterprises has fully ensured 5G network system layers from the core network, transmission network to access network. These devices have been deployed on the network to provide services in several large areas with 1.5 Gbps download speed, and 60Mbps upload speed.

Currently, domestic technology enterprises are in the process of continuing to research and develop products with higher capacity and technical features, and at the same time deploying large batch production activities to meet the needs of customers. meeting the target of the 5G wide-area deployment plan in 2023. Evaluation of network service quality results and technical criteria of domestically manufactured 5G gNodeB equipment, which meets the requirements of the National Regulation.

Increase the value of “Made in Vietnam”

According to statistics, by the end of June 2022, the ratio of Make in Vietnam value in the revenue structure of the ICT industry is at 26.72% with an estimated value of about 19.4 billion USD of total revenue. over 72.5 billion USD of the whole industry. This figure is quite low compared to the more than 53 billion USD that the value from foreign enterprises (FDI) brings through outsourcing and assembly activities.

Not only now, but for many years now, although Vietnam has always been among the major electronics exporters in the world, most of the value is brought from the foreign-invested enterprise sector. outside. Corporations from Japan and Korea are playing the leading role.

HSBC’s assessment also pointed out that much of the success of Vietnam’s ICT industry is due to Samsung’s investments. Over the past two decades, this company has poured into Vietnam about 18 billion USD. With 6 factories and 1 research and development (R&D) center, Vietnam is supplying half of Samsung’s phone production. As a result, Vietnam’s smartphone market share globally has grown at the current rate.

However, in the long term, especially to meet Vietnam’s goals of developing the digital economy by 2025, which is 20% of GDP, a further increase in the value of Make in Vietnam is considered a requirement.

Talking about the issue of the day, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Phan Tam said that being too dependent on FDI enterprises will cause the ICT industry to develop unsustainably. Therefore, it is necessary to promote the Make in Vietnam strategy toward an autonomous industry. There, domestic digital technology enterprises will master the creative and design stages, which are all stages of high value.

To do this, domestic digital technology enterprises will have to take the lead and show a leading role when actively researching and developing to create Make in Vietnam products that can be applied in every corner. life as well as the economy.

According to economic expert Nguyen Van Long, the government also needs to have mechanisms and policies to encourage ICT businesses to focus on researching core technologies Make in Vietnam. Only when Vietnam possesses these important technologies can Vietnam’s value addition in the technology export chain make significant progress.

In addition, there should also be tax incentives for ICT businesses, through areas such as technology transfer, development of supporting industries as well as training of high-quality human resources. In addition, the State also needs to play the role of a bridge to bring Make in Vietnam technology products to the world, thereby enhancing the value of these products. Mr. Nguyen Van Long said.

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung:

If the ICT industry is still assembling, outsourcing, and hiring, this field is still the same. However, if the ICT industry is “Make in Vietnam”, which is to develop Vietnamese digital technology businesses, master technology, design, create and make in Vietnam, this will make Vietnam become a technology country and the ICT industry will have a growth rate of 2-4 times the GDP growth rate of the country.

Source: Kinhtedothi