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The Vietnam News

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Intel wins Vietnam license for chip plant

HANOI - Vietnam has approved the issue of a license to Intel Corp, the world's largest microchip maker, to build a $605 million plant to produce chips and computer parts in a deal that officials hope could help draw more investors. Intel said in an invitation to Reuters on Thursday that the license would be handed over formally at a ceremony in Ho Chi Minh City on February 28.

Intel chairman Craig Barrett would introduce the project and receive the investment license, Intel said without elaborating. A source close to the deal said the Intel unit in Hong Kong would run the $605-million project, which will make Intel Vietnam's first major foreign investor in the high technology field. The plant is expected to be built at Saigon Hi-Tech Park in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's commercial center, and output would be for export, government officials have said.

Vietnam has projected $2 billion worth of electronics products exports for 2006, up nearly 40 percent from 2005, industry reports show. Officials at the Planning and Investment Ministry, which oversees foreign investment, could not immediately be reached for comment. Industry officials said the Intel license would help Vietnam, which has been accelerating investment in technology in recent years, draw more foreign investors, including those in related businesses. Several investors from Japan, among the biggest foreign investors in Vietnam, said they had been following Intel's proposed chip plant project closely in order to secure the right to provide related services.

Vietnam has said it expected to get $6 billion in foreign direct investment in 2006, including funds for major projects in high technology and infrastructure, versus $5.8 billion last year.

Reuters - February 23, 2006.