HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- Vietnam has approved a US$1.2 billion high-tech park that will house software, hardware and human resources companies, the Ho Chi Minh City's People's Committee said Tuesday.
The project is a joint venture between three Taiwanese companies and a Vietnamese partner. Construction is scheduled to begin in July and be completed in 2012, city officials announced on their website.
The 15.9-hectare (39 acre) park will be built in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's business hub, by Taiwanese Teco Electrical and Machinery Co., Shining Group, the Industrial Bank of Taiwan, and their Vietnamese partner, Saigon Tel Co.
The park will have enough space for 70,000 workers and will produce software for export, design circuits and chips, and train technology workers.
The Taiwanese companies own 80 percent of the joint venture, while the Vietnamese firm has a 20-percent stake.
Vietnam is striving to develop its software outsourcing and high-tech manufacturing sectors and has attracted some of the world's technology giants recently.
Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Co. plans to invest US$5 billion in several manufacturing plants in Vietnam, and Intel Corp. is constructing a US$1 billion chip assembly and testing plant in Ho Chi Minh City.
