June 16, 2008
On June 16, HCM City Chairman Le Hoang Quan granted a Vietnamese-Taiwanese joint venture the license to build a software park in the Thu Thiem New Urban Area. Standing Secretary of the HCM City Party Committee Nguyen Van Dua attended the ceremony.

The 15.9-hectare Thu Thiem Software Park is the second software project at the new urban area in HCM City’s District 2 after the Vija Brain Park.
It has a charter capital of US$180 million, of which TA Associates Vietnam, formed by three Taiwanese firms (Teco Electrical and Machinery Co., Shining Group and the Industrial Bank of Taiwan), contributes 80% and Vietnam’s SaigonTel the balance. The total investment capital is US$1.2 billion.

The project’s main activities are to develop and outsource software for export, design circuits and chips; build infrastructure, commercial centers, offices and apartments for lease; train human resources; and promote trade and investment into Thu Thiem.
Construction is expected to begin in July 2008 and will be completed in 2012. When on line, the software park will provide jobs for some 70,000 people, 70% of them working in technology-related fields, and bring in an annual revenue of US$6.5 billion.
At the license-award ceremony, TA Associates Vietnam funded VND2 billion to the District 2 authorities to help local poor people.

Speaking at the event, HCMC Chairman Le Hoang Quan emphasized the project’s importance to the city.

This project will help implement the city’s economic restructuring program by increasing the ratio of hi-tech and value-added products, Quan said.
In addition, it will have a positive impact on the city’s training, research and development, and management sectors, and develop the Thu Thiem Peninsula into a modern financial, banking, service and software center.

With this project, HCM City attracted nearly US$5 billion in foreign direct investment capital in the first six months of this year, the highest number within the past 10 years, Quan said.