The Dutch company was granted the project's investment certificate from the Saigon Hi-Tech Park (SHTP) Management Authority of early this month.

To save on time and soon put the project into operation, BESI foresees leasing ready-to-serve factory space covering more than 2,000sq.m area at Lot I-15-1 in SHTP from Li Cheng Co., Ltd.

Saigon Hi-Tech Park in Ho Chi Minh City

The first phase involves $4.9 million investment value and an operational duration of 50 years.

In the third quarter (Q3) of this year, the stakeholder parties aim to finalise their investment registration certificate.

From Q4/2023 to Q4/2024, BESI will complete assembly and labor recruitment, paving the way to commence production from Q1/2025.

To prepare for the proposed operation in Vietnam, in September the company had reported employing 29 staff resorting to support from BESI Singapore who will receive training in China for future work at BESI Vietnam.

The headcount at BESI Vietnam is expected to reach 120-130 people in the next three years.

BESI first approached SHTP leadership last October. The company first submitted its dossier asking for investment certificate provision on June 16, supplemented the dossier on September 26, and officially received the investment license on October 3.

After granting the investment license to BESI, on October 19 the Management Board of SHTP sent a document to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs arguing to confer the investment certificate on BESI at the upcoming talk between the Vietnamese and Dutch government proposed on November 2 with a view to convey a message to foreign investor community in semiconductor industry about Vietnam's favorable investment climate.

According to the SHTP Management Authority, still modest investment value in the project's first-phase investment is for the investor to assess investment climate in Vietnam before taking further step for investment expansion in the next phase, and that BESI Vietnam's semiconductor project could entail positive contributions to Vietnam's sociological development, and particularly that of Ho Chi Minh City.

Socially, the project helps create employment posts with expertise for Vietnamese labor, as well as train technical teams in the semiconductor industry to feed the needs from foreign direct investment businesses in Vietnam and abroad.

At the Vietnam Industrial Property Forum, hosted by Vietnam Investment Review in late August in Ho Chi Minh City, Do Van Su, deputy director general of the Foreign Investment Agency under Ministry of Planning and Investment, commented that the shift of investment capital flow from West Europe such as Germany, the Netherland, and France into Vietnam persists, and the sectors most enticing foreign capital flow are renewable energy and semiconductor industry.

Headquartered in Duiven in the eastern Netherlands, BESI is specialised in manufacturing, trading and providing semiconductor manufacturing equipment and services to leading multinational IC manufacturers and electronic companies.

The company currently has seven facilities in Asia and Europe for manufacturing, research and development, along with 10 sales and service offices across Europe, Asia and North America.

BESI is listed on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange at a market value approximating $5.6 billion in 2021.