Apple supplier Pegatron to build Vietnam houses for workers

Hai Phong's administration aims to help Apple's supplier Pegatron break ground on its 5-hectare worker accommodation project in the northern city this December.

Le Trung Kien, head of Hai Phong Economic Zone Authority (HEZA), told Pegatron Vietnam Co. representatives last Friday that about 2.2 hectares of the accommodation site in Hai An district was available for the electronics maker to use, and the rest would be so this December for the project to break ground.

Taipei-listed Pegatron, also a supplier of Microsoft and Sony, got a license in February to build a $68.3 million housing project, designed to accommodate 10,000 employees.

The first-stage construction was scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2024, to be followed by phase two, with completion set for the fourth quarter of 2027.

Pegatron in September 2020 announced its plans to invest $1 billion in three hi-tech product plants at the Nam Dinh Vu Industrial Park in Hai Phong to make computers, electronic devices, communications equipment, electronic components and circuit boards for global tech giants. The first of the three is already operational.

Hai Phong, about two hours’ drive east of Hanoi, is a major industrial and logistics hub in the north. Korean tech giant LG Group has selected Hai Phong as its strategic spot in Vietnam, operating LG Electronics Vietnam Hai Phong (focused on electronics), LG Innotek Vietnam Hai Phong (electronic components), and LG Display Vietnam Hai Phong, which manufactures LCD and OLED displays.

Universal Scientific Industrial Vietnam Co., a unit of leading Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer ASE Technology, was permitted this February to build a $18.34 million housing project for 4,000 workers in the city.

Industrial developer IndoChina Kajima, a joint venture between Vietnam’s Indochina Capital and Japan’s Kajima Corp., began work on its first project in Hai Phong this August. The project will provide 96,000 square meters of factories and warehouses of international standards for lease at the Deep C2 Industrial Zone.

Hai Phong has 14 operational industrial parks and planned to build another 15 by 2025, according to HEZA head Le Trung Kien.

Apple partners in Vietnam chorus

Pegatron has joined Apple’s two other iPhone assemblers, Wistron and Foxconn from Taiwan, in building manufacturing facilities and expanding production capacity in Vietnam.

Pegatron, which makes about 20-30% of iPhones, is putting an emphasis on expanding its factories out of China. The Apple assembler in April suspended operations at its Shanghai and Kunshan plants in mainland China due to Covid-19 lockdowns, affecting production and deliveries.

This August, Foxconn signed a deal to rent an additional 50.5 hectares of industrial land in Quang Chau Industrial Park in Bac Giang province near Hanoi for its plans to develop a new project with investment estimated at some $300 million.

The same month, the World Bank’s financial arm IFC approved a $700 million financing package to Chinese electronics components maker Goertek Inc. for a new modern electronics production plant in Vietnam.

Goertek, one of Apple’s global suppliers, operates Goertek Technology Vina Ltd. in Bac Ninh province bordering Hanoi, and is building the Precision Industry Vietnam Ltd. factory in the central province of Nghe An.

Compal Electronics Inc. and Luxshare Precision Industry Co., also have a presence in Vietnam, both with production expansion plans in the country.