(Mr): Phung Xuan Minh. [Chairman of the Board of Directors of PT Group & Saigon Ratings]
In this era of national development, Vietnam is facing the demand for a radical transformation of its growth model. While in the past, Vietnam’s main competitive advantages stemmed from its abundant and affordable labor force, strategic geographical location, and stable political environment, the next phase requires a higher level of development. This means an economy based on science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, green transformation, high labor productivity, strong domestic enterprises, and the ability to participate more deeply in global value chains.
In this context, Resolution 10-NQ/TW: Raising FDI standards to elevate the Vietnamese economy is of particular importance. The resolution not only sets out the requirement to continue attracting foreign investment, but also redefines the role of FDI in the national development strategy. FDI must become a driving force for capacity building, contributing to the creation of new technologies, new industries, new standards, new human resources, and a new position for the Vietnamese economy.
1. FDI is a crucial driving force in establishing a new growth model.
Over the years, FDI has played a crucial role in supplementing investment capital, boosting exports, creating jobs, and forming large-scale manufacturing industries. However, in the new era of development, the role of FDI needs to be viewed more deeply. FDI is not just a source of capital, but must be an integral part of the restructuring process of the growth model.
Vietnam’s new growth model cannot continue to rely heavily on resource exploitation, cheap labor, processing, assembly, and extensive investment expansion. Instead, the economy needs to shift to growth based on productivity, technology, innovation, the quality of human resources, and efficient resource utilization. This is precisely the space where the new generation of FDI can play its role.
If properly selected and managed, FDI flows can help Vietnam shorten the time needed to accumulate technology, gain faster access to modern management methods, international production standards, and global market systems. Multinational corporations investing in Vietnam bring not only capital but also supply networks, technical standards, management processes, quality control systems, and global-scale production capabilities.
The core issue is that Vietnam must shift from a mindset of “attracting more FDI projects” to one where “each FDI project contributes to a new growth model.” This means that FDI projects should be evaluated not only by their total registered capital, land area used, or number of workers, but also by their ability to create added value, transfer technology, train human resources, link with domestic businesses, and contribute to the nation’s long-term competitiveness.
2. FDI contributes to strengthening national resources, competitiveness, and national standing.
In the context of increasingly fierce international competition, a nation’s strength is measured not only by its GDP size or growth rate, but also by its technological capabilities, institutional quality, depth of capital markets, industrial production capacity, ability to ensure energy security, domestic enterprise strength, and position in the global value chain.
High-quality FDI can contribute to enhancing these capabilities. When Vietnam attracts investors with advanced technology, modern management, and the ability to connect to global markets, the economy will have more resources to upgrade its production system, develop supporting industries, expand exports, create high-quality jobs, and improve national competitiveness.
In particular, in this new phase, Vietnam needs to direct FDI flows into sectors with strong spillover effects such as semiconductor industry, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, biotechnology, green industry, modern logistics, finance, innovation, clean energy, and digital infrastructure. These are sectors that not only create direct economic value but also contribute to building the foundational capacity for a modern economy.
However, for FDI to truly enhance the country’s standing, Vietnam needs to avoid the risk of becoming a recipient of low-level stages in the value chain. The goal is not just to have more factories, but to have more research centers, design centers, data centers, regional operations centers, innovation centers, and supply chains with deep involvement of Vietnamese businesses.
When domestic businesses participate in FDI supply chains as high-level suppliers, Vietnam will not only be a production location but will gradually become a capable link in the global production network. This is the shift from “attracting FDI” to “domesticating FDI,” from “participating in the value chain” to “raising its position in the value chain.”
In this new phase, Vietnam’s task is not only to attract more foreign investors, but also to retain and upgrade existing FDI flows. Successful FDI enterprises operating in Vietnam should be encouraged to expand investment, innovate technology, develop R&D, increase linkages with domestic businesses, and gradually transform Vietnam into a regional manufacturing, service, data, or operational hub. This is a crucial direction for FDI to not only create short-term economic value but also contribute to the nation’s long-term competitiveness.
3. FDI helps Vietnam proactively leapfrog in science, technology, and engineering.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is profoundly changing the structure of global production, trade, finance, and governance. Fields such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, automation, robotics, biotechnology, new materials, renewable energy, cloud computing, and big data are becoming the foundation of national competitiveness for decades to come.
Vietnam cannot afford to lag behind in these areas for too long. Therefore, FDI should be considered one of the important channels for Vietnam to leapfrog in science, technology, and engineering. Through cooperation with leading global technology corporations, Vietnam can more quickly access new technologies, new management models, new production standards, and global expert networks.
In the semiconductor and high-tech sectors, FDI can help Vietnam participate in stages such as testing, packaging, design, manufacturing of auxiliary equipment, embedded software, and technical services. In the artificial intelligence and data sectors, FDI can contribute to the formation of data centers, computing infrastructure, data analytics platforms, and digital service ecosystems. In the advanced biotechnology and biomedical sectors, FDI can support Vietnam in accessing research and production technologies for pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, and modern healthcare solutions.
For energy, this is one of the fundamental conditions for attracting high-quality FDI. Semiconductor industries, data centers, artificial intelligence, green industries, and high-tech manufacturing all require a stable, safe power supply capable of meeting green standards and having low emissions. Therefore, Vietnam needs to develop renewable energy, smart grids, storage technologies, stable base power sources, and solutions to ensure long-term energy security. In particular, strategic energy projects such as nuclear power, if implemented cautiously, safely, and according to the highest international standards, can become an important part of ensuring a clean and stable power supply for the next generation of industrialization.
For transportation and logistics infrastructure, FDI can also make a significant contribution to the development of seaports, airports, highways, logistics centers, smart warehouses, and modern supply chains. When transportation, energy, data, and logistics infrastructure are upgraded synchronously, Vietnam will be better positioned to attract high-tech, large-scale FDI projects with strong spillover effects.
4. FDI participates in establishing a new generation of national industrial production.
One of Vietnam’s most important tasks in this era of development is building a new generation of national industrial production. This is not just an industry with many factories, but one with high technology, high productivity, green standards, deep supply chains, strong domestic enterprises, and the ability to participate in high value-added stages.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) can play a crucial role in this process, but only if Vietnam sets the right direction. Instead of attracting simple processing and assembly projects, Vietnam needs to prioritize projects with core technologies, R&D centers, commitments to workforce training, clear localization rates, and the ability to connect with Vietnamese businesses. At the same time, incentive policies should be linked to the fulfillment of commitments, not just based on the scale of capital or the number of workers employed.
To develop a new generation of industrial production, Vietnam needs to build in-depth industry clusters. For example, in the semiconductor sector, it’s not enough to attract just a few individual projects; an ecosystem encompassing chip design, packaging, testing, materials, equipment, software, engineering training, and research centers is necessary. In the electric vehicle and clean energy sectors, an ecosystem of batteries, components, control software, charging stations, recycling, and supporting industries needs to be developed. In the biotechnology sector, research, production, testing, quality standards, and markets need to be interconnected.
The role of Vietnamese businesses in this process is crucial. If domestic businesses remain outside the FDI supply chain, the economy will struggle to achieve substantial upgrading. Conversely, if Vietnamese businesses gradually become suppliers, technology partners, research partners, logistics partners, and service partners for FDI corporations, the national industrial capacity will be elevated to a new level.
Therefore, in this era of national development, FDI must be placed in a symbiotic relationship with the state-owned economy, the private economy, and the national innovation ecosystem. The FDI sector needs to become a driving force for the growth of Vietnamese businesses, rather than an isolated sector. This is the core point for Vietnam to both attract international resources and strengthen its national capabilities.
Based on the practical experience of attracting FDI and the spirit of Resolution 10-NQ/TW, it is clear that the requirement for Vietnam is not only to continue expanding the scale of foreign investment flows, but more importantly, to raise the quality standards of these flows. Vietnam needs to become a destination for FDI projects with high technology, modern management, strong spillover effects, strong linkages with domestic businesses, and substantial contributions to productivity, innovation, green transformation, and national competitiveness.
In summary, Resolution 10-NQ/TW: Raising FDI standards to elevate the Vietnamese economy is a strategic direction of great significance in the new development phase. In this era of growth, FDI flows not only need to be more abundant, but also better, greener, smarter, with higher spillover effects and deeper integration with domestic businesses. When FDI becomes a channel for transmitting technology, management, human resources, and international standards, Vietnam will have more resources to build a self-reliant, modern, competitive economy with a higher position in the global value chain.
Saigon Ratings. [June 18, 2026]
