China smartphone supplier gets $150 mln investment certificate for central Vietnam project

The central province of Nghe An has granted an investment certificate to a $150 million project to Hong Kong-based Summit Optical Investment Limited.

The company, which functions under major smartphone supplier Sunny Optical Technology, will implement the Sunny Optical Automotive Vina project on 43 hectares at the WHA Industrial Zone.

It will employ 20,000 people for producing, processing and assembling camera modules, smartphone cameras, vehicle cameras and other electronic items.

The company began surveying the site on July 5 and submitted files for the project on September 12 and won in-principle approval a week later.

Speaking at Wednesday’s investment certificate granting ceremony, Nghe An Chairman Nguyen Duc Trung said the project marked the first instance of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the province exceeding $1 billion a year.

In the first nine months of 2023, the central province has attracted an estimated $1.27 billion in FDI, placing it eighth among all localities in the country, he added.

In total, the province has lured 130 FDI projects with a total registered capital of $3.85 billion.

The project investor, its vendors and Thailand-based WHA Industrial Development, investor of the WHA Industrial Zone, also signed an agreement to establish "an ecosystem of Sunny Optical Technology in Nghe An province".

Trung noted that the agreement highlights the province’s efforts to improve its business environment and collaboration with major investors with a focus on the hi-tech electronics sector.