SpaceX, Netflix And Boeing To Participate In The US Business Mission To Invest in Vietnam

The event's organiser, SpaceX, Netflix, and Boeing will be among the companies participating in the "largest-ever" US business mission to Vietnam next week to discuss investment and sales opportunities in the booming Southeast Asian nation.

According to a list seen, more than 50 companies, including defence, pharmaceutical, and technology firms, will participate in the mission organised by the US-ASEAN Business Council, an industry body.

The delegation is a sign of growing interest in the global manufacturing hub, which is benefiting from a shift away from China amid trade tensions between the two countries.

With a population of 100 million people, Vietnam also has a rapidly expanding consumer market as its middle class grows.

"This is the biggest-ever mission in Vietnam," said Vu Tu Thanh, the US-ASEAN Business Council's representative in the country, noting that the body had been organising these events for three decades.

Among the companies taking part in the trip is streaming giant Netflix, which was reported last month to be planning to open an office in Vietnam. A request for comment from Netflix was not returned.

Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Bell will meet with state-owned Vietnamese defence procurement firms, Thanh told Reuters, adding that security firms had decided to join the annual mission to Vietnam for the first time in about a decade.

The same companies met with Vietnamese government officials in December to discuss the possible sale of helicopters and drones, as the country seeks new suppliers and the Ukraine conflict strains Russia's capabilities, which has been Vietnam's main military partner for decades.

"Helicopters is one of the things the companies hope to sell to the Vietnamese," Thanh said, although he cautioned that defence deals took time to be completed and no immediate breakthrough was expected.

Boeing stated in a statement that its discussions with officials would centre on the company's growing partnership with Vietnam as well as ways to strengthen the country's aviation and defence capabilities.

Requests for comment from Lockheed Martin and Bell were not returned.

According to Thanh, the majority of the companies participating in the business mission already have a business or manufacturing presence in Vietnam, including Apple, Coca-Cola, and PepsiCo, with some planning to expand.

Some companies are also coming to gain a better understanding of the political situation in the Communist-led country, including the resignation of the president in January, Thanh added.

Participants will meet with top political and regulatory leaders in Vietnam, including Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

Thanh stated that some businesses were interested in Vietnam as a manufacturing hub and in providing services to increasingly wealthy consumers at a time when the country's economy grew by more than 8% last year.

Among them is SpaceX, which wants to sell satellite internet services to Vietnam and other countries in the region, according to Thanh. A request for comment from SpaceX was not returned.

According to the list, the mission will also include semiconductor companies, pharmaceutical behemoths Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, medical device maker Abbott, financial firms Visa and Citibank, and internet and cloud companies Meta and Amazon Web Services.