Vietnam’s commercial hub Ho Chi Minh City announced an effort to court a $3.3 billion investment from Intel Corp., only to amend much of its original statement to remove mentions of the US chipmaker.
The government on late Tuesday posted a notice about how it was courting that mega-investment from Intel, which could boost the city’s 2023 foreign direct investment to $7.4 billion. Late Wednesday morning, it revised that statement to strike Intel’s name and reduced that projected total to as much as $4.5 billion.
Intel did recently meet with government officials about plans to make an additional investment for at least $3.3 billion at its existing facility in the city’s Saigon Hi-Tech Park, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
“Vietnam is an important part of our global manufacturing network, but we have not announced any new investments,” Intel said in a statement.
Vietnam has become a major manufacturing hub as companies with large production bases in China seek to diversify supply chains amid growing tensions between Washington and Beijing and Covid-era disruptions. The Southeast Asian country has attracted the likes of Apple Inc. suppliers and Samsung Electronics Co.
Intel operates a chip assembly and test manufacturing facility in the city. The company invested $475 million in Intel Products Vietnam in 2021, bringing its total investment in the country to $1.5 billion.