HSBC highlights Viet Nam’s progress in climbing up tech value chain
VGP - Viet Nam has made progress in climbing up the tech value chain and elevated its importance in final electronics assembly, specializing in finished consumer electronics, noted HSBC in its report 'Viet Nam at a glance' released on Friday.
The bank said, thanks to Samsung's consistent investment as early as 2007, the nation has been transformed into a major manufacturing centre, producing half of Samsung's smartphones.
Viet Nam's share of phone-related exports has seen a notable jump from almost zero in less than 15 years, though it has seen some recent moderation.
Besides consumer electronics, Viet Nam is also becoming increasingly important in producing processor ICs – a higher value-add segment than just electronics assembly. This is almost entirely thanks to investment from Intel, which produces 90 percent of global processor chips.
HSBC noted that in 2013, 60 percent of Viet Nam's goods exports to the U.S. were in light manufacturing sectors, like textile, footwear and toy products. Back then, electronics products only accounted for a marginal 13 percent.
However, the trend has shifted rather swiftly and electronics exports have seen an exponential surge. Since the beginning of 2025, electronics products have exceeded light manufacturing to be the top exports to the U.S. market.
According to HSBC, while most regional peers have seen notable moderation in their exports to the U.S., Viet Nam's export growth remains close to 30 percent year-on-year on a 3-month-moving-average basis.
During January-November, the U.S. remained the biggest importer of Vietnamese goods with US$138.6 billion, reported the National Statistics Office.
In October alone, the country's total export turnover reached US$42.05 billion, up 17.5 percent year-on-year, driven by strong growth in key sectors such as electronics and computers (up 47.9 percent), phones (4.7 percent), machinery (12.2 percent), and transport equipment and parts (13.5 percent).
By the end of October, cumulative exports in the electronics sector reached US$136 billion, setting a record since the industry began exporting. With nearly 50 percent year-on-year growth, the electronics, computers, and components industry has firmly established itself as a cornerstone of Viet Nam's exports./.
