SK Group’s $500 mln project in northern Vietnam records 61% construction completion

Ecovance Vietnam Co. Ltd., under South Korea’s chaebol SK, has reached 61% completion for its $500 million factory in Vietnam’s northern coastal city of Hai Phong.

The firm made an update of the construction progress during a Monday on-site visit of Le Trung Kien, head of the Hai Phong Economic Zone Authority (HEZA).

The project started the construction in May, with an initial investment of $94 million.

The plant covers 3.2 hectares in DEEP C Hai Phong I Industrial Park and the investment capital is set to increase to $500 million by 2030.

Once operational, it can produce 70,000 tons of PBAT (polybutylene adipate terephthalate) biodegradable plastic, 59,500 tons of PBS (polybutylene succinate biodegradable plastic), and 6,300 tons of THF (tetrahydrofuran) solvent per year.

Kien also visited phase 2 of the Universal Scientific Industrial (USI) factory. Work started on the project in April 2024 and has reached 80% completion. The firm aims to complete the construction in March 2025.

USI, an electronics supplier under Taiwan-based ASE Technology Holding, started its investment in Hai Phong in 2020 and will increase its investment there to $290 million soon.

With the additional investment, USI will increase the factory’s annual output to 245 million items, including electronic components, bar code scanners, tablets, directional controllers, wireless communications products, cooling devices, electronic items for automobiles, and others.

Concluding the visit, Kien urged the two firms to put the two projects into operation in 2025 and affirmed that the HEZA would facilitate them. High-tech and eco-friendly projects are a priority of the city, he added.