HANOI (Reuters) - Taiwan's Pegatron (TW:4938) is seeking to invest $1 billion in three phases in production facilities in areas such as computing, communication and consumer electronics in Vietnam, state-media reported on Tuesday.
Pegatron, which is a manufacturing partner of Apple (O:AAPL), Microsoft (O:MSFT) and Sony (T:6758), had received licenses to initially invest $19 million in the city of Haiphong, the Hanoitimes and Tuoi Tre newspapers reported, citing a report by the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
Pegatron was also seeking licences for a $481-million second phase and $500 million in 2026-2027, the papers said, adding these were expected to create 22,500 jobs and contribute around 100 billion dong ($4.31 million) to the state budget per year.
Reuters was unable to obtain a copy of the report and calls to the ministry were not answered.
Pegatron did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Under the plans, Pegatron would join Apple's two other iPhone assemblers, Wistron Corp (TW:3231) and Foxconn (TW:2317), in developing more capacity in Vietnam.
Apple has been producing its wireless earbuds AirPods Pro in Vietnam since May.
Su Chih-Yen, acting director of the Investment Commission of Taiwan's Economics Ministry, told Reuters it had not yet approved such an investment, but declined to comment on whether they had received an application.
In a bid to skirt U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, Taiwanese companies have been particularly active in either moving production back home or elsewhere in Asia.
Another Taiwanese company, Universal Global Technology, which produces smartphone and earbuds parts for Lenovo (HK:0992) and Sony, was also looking to set up a plant in Vietnam, Hanoitimes cited the report as saying.
ASE Technology Holding, parent company of Universal Global Technology, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.