Taiwanese firms are keen about investing in Vietnam to avoid US-China trade tensions and other risks, although the COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting the pace, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Taiwan said in a report on Monday.
Some firms have put on hold their investment plans in Vietnam amid the pandemic, resulting in a 20.9 percent decline in foreign direct investment to US$8.6 billion during the January-to-March period, PwC Taiwan said.
That is because firms in Vietnam have been hit by supply chain disruptions and order cancelations after major export markets shut down all nonessential businesses to combat the virus, it said.
Vietnam has instituted strict isolation measures, which have slowed down commercial property transactions and lengthened negotiation periods, PwC said.
However, buying interest remains strong while property prices hold stable, it said.
Buyers from Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Singapore have shored up demand for industrial properties in Vietnam, it said.
Land costs in northern Vietnam averaged US$99 per square meter last quarter, an increase of 6.5 percent from a year earlier, while rates for similar sizes of land in Ho Chi Minh City require up to US$200, PwC Taiwan said, citing official data from Vietnam.
Occupancy rates at Vietnamese industrial parks hover at about 75 percent, the consultancy said.
The pandemic underscores the importance and necessity of having diversified manufacturing sites, PwC said.
Some European and US companies have asked contract manufacturers to set up plants outside of China to rein in overconcentration risks, it said, adding that Vietnam is benefiting from the supply chain realignment.
Vietnamese authorities have voiced plans to offer tax credits and other measures to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on foreign firms, PwC said.
The country might recover its full manufacturing capacity next quarter if the outbreak comes to a quick end, it said.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS