Intel Capital leaves local footprint

Neither Intel nor the Hanoi-based internet infrastructure and services company disclosed the investment amount announced at the World Economic Forum in Bangkok.

However, the investment arm of the world’s largest chip-maker announced two investments totallling $17 million in the Vietnamese firm and Singapore’s Reebonz.com.

However, Vietnam Communications’ deputy director Nguyen The Tan disclosed that the sum “was not a small amount” and the company was recruiting personnel for expansion. Tan said with the new investment, his 1,200-strong staff would expand to 1,800 this year and the firm would open 10-15 new websites as well as upgrade its popular e-commerce websites like Muachung, Muare and SohaPay.

He said the firm would also improve its internet infrastructure as e-commerce in Vietnam was forecast to enjoy robust growth in the coming years, with 20-fold growth until 2017.
Vietnam Communications offers online content, e-commerce, social media, advertising networks and mobile value added services via a system of online and mobile services in Vietnam.

Intel Capital said the investment, its first in Vietnam since it started investing in South East Asia in 1999, aimed to support the development of engaging local online experiences to help drive technology adoption and increased high speed broadband usage.
It invested more than $139 million globally this year and Intel saw South East Asia as one of the world’s fastest-growing markets for high technology, driven by robust economic growth and a rising middle class.  
“As a result, we’re seeing strong demand for e-commerce and cloud-based services across the region and these investments will help to accelerate that trend,” Gregory Bryant, vice-president and general manager, Intel Asia-Pacific, said.

In Vietnam, Intel is operating a $1 billion chip assembly and test factory at the Saigon Hi-Tech Park in Ho Chi Minh City. The world’s largest chip-maker inaugurated the facility in October 2010, saying the factory was the US corporation’s biggest in the world.  In February 2006, the Ministry of Planning and Investment issued an investment licence for Intel to build a $300 million assembly and test facility to produce chips and computer parts. Intel later increased its Vietnam investment to $1 billion.