The importance of developing a concentrated CNS area in Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has just issued Decision No. 5787 Approving the Project to build new concentrated digital technology zones. In the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (CMCN 4.0) and the digital economy era taking place strongly, Ho Chi Minh City is facing an urgent requirement to innovate the growth model. The Project to build new concentrated digital technology zones (CNS) was born as a strategic lever, aimed at concretizing the Central Government's policies, especially Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW of the Politburo and the Law on Digital Technology Industry that has been approved by the National Assembly.
After the merger phase, the city's economic scale has exceeded 120.8 billion USD, with more than 13.6 million people. Ho Chi Minh City is also the leading locality in the country in science and technology, innovation with more than 2,000 startups, accounting for more than 50% of the whole country.
However, existing models such as Quang Trung Software Park (QTSC) after more than 24 years of operation have almost run out of expanded land fund. Therefore, replicating and developing a new generation of concentrated CNS is a prerequisite to maintain growth momentum.
Contributing 12-16 billion USD/year
The project sets ambitious goals to bring Ho Chi Minh City to rise to the group of leading cities in the ASEAN region in innovation, artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductor microchips and the Internet of Things (IoT) by 2030.
According to data released by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee in the plan, the goal by 2030 is for the city to maintain an average GRDP growth rate of 10-11%/year, bringing the average GRDP per capita to 14,000 - 15,000 USD by 2030. The proportion of the digital economy accounts for 30-40% of the City's GRDP.
Estimated at a double-digit growth rate, the city's GRDP is expected to be nearly 200 billion USD by 2030, the digital economy accounts for over 30% (over 60 billion USD), the proportion from concentrated CNS zones is expected to reach 20–27% of the digital economy, equivalent to 12–16 billion USD/year.
Regarding expected resources, the Southeast region has about 19,000 students studying in information technology, digital technology, automation and AI; each year providing over 38,000 to 45,000 university degree or higher workers for the market.
The project also recommends the "enterprise – school – institute" mechanism through internship centers, business semesters, and a 2-3-3 year binding scholarship fund to ensure the stability of human resources.
Created 500,000 jobs
Based on the average standardized revenue of 16 million USD/ha/year, Ho Chi Minh City determines the planning needs of 750 - 1,000 hectares of land for the development of new concentrated CNS areas.
The project builds a capital mobilization method according to the principle of rotation: 1 VND, the state mobilizes 9 VND for businesses. Of which, capital from the state is approximately 400 million USD, and social capital is 3.6 to 4 billion USD.
The development of concentrated CNS zones is expected to create 400,000-500,000 digital jobs, while spreading research and development, promoting the innovation ecosystem.
Implementation direction
The project surveys and proposes a list of potential locations for new establishment or recognition of concentrated CNS zones in the expanded area of Ho Chi Minh City, including key areas such as: Cu Chi, Trung My Tay, Thu Duc, Nha Be, Tan Thuan, Binh Chanh; old Binh Duong area (Riverside, Cay Truong, VSIP 3, Tan Dinh, F-Soft, Binh An) and old Ba Ria - Vung Tau (Chau Duc, Chau Pha, Long Son).
These areas do not follow in the footsteps of traditional purely manufacturing industrial parks, but are oriented to develop into an integrated smart industrial ecosystem, absolutely prioritizing high value-added activities: R&D, semiconductor microchip design, AI, Big Data, and controlled testing mechanism operation.
