Vietnam’s biggest company, Vingroup, expands overseas as its home market
slows
[July 29, 2026] By
ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam’s biggest conglomerate, Vingroup, is
moving into global markets as business at home slows, planning nearly
two dozen projects in at least 15 countries, from a “Vietnam Town” in
Uzbekistan to smart cities in India and a riverfront development in
Congo.
Profits from Vingroup’s flagship real estate business have long funded
its investments in diverse industries including automaking and
technology. But Vietnam’s once sizzling property market is cooling,
while its electric vehicle company VinFast is losing money.
As opportunities for large developments at home become harder to find,
Vingroup, Vietnam’s largest privately owned company, is looking overseas
to generate the money needed to fund its ambitions in EVs, artificial
intelligence and robotics, industries central to Vietnam's goal of
becoming Asia’s next tiger economy.
In Uzbekistan, Vingroup signed an agreement in December to build a
“Vietnam Town” in its capital, the ancient Silk Road city of Tashkent.
In Central Asia’s largest metropolis, it envisions a development modeled
on its signature projects in Vietnam, combining homes, shopping centers,
schools, hospitals and EV charging stations.
Other projects include tourism ventures like a zoo in India and
smart-city projects in Africa to plans to develop motors and moving
parts needed for robots in Germany.
Like China before it, Vietnam wants to build globally competitive
companies now that the export-led model that has lifted the country out
of poverty is, in the words of Communist Party General Secretary To Lam,
under “unprecedented strain.”
“Growth is slowing. Public debt and the cost of capital are rising.
Climate change is threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of millions.
Disruptive technologies create immense opportunities, but also new
divides,” he said in a speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier
defense summit.
Vingroup leads Vietnam’s overseas push
Vietnam stepped up its expansion into other global markets after tariffs
imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump exposed the risks of relying too
heavily on a handful of export destinations. The U.S. accounts for over
30% of Vietnam's exports.
Central Asia has become one focus. Trade with Uzbekistan reached $202
million in 2024, up 26.5% from a year earlier, while Vietnam elevated
ties with Kazakhstan to a strategic partnership in 2025.
Uzbekistan has been encouraging private enterprises and foreign
investment since its authoritarian government loosened state controls in
2017. Central Asian countries also have been expanding their trade
beyond Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, said Bhavna Dave, a
senior lecturer on Central Asian politics at the SOAS University of
London.
Chinese investment has grown, but Tashkent is eager to deepen ties
across Asia, which it sees as the world’s “most dynamic economic
region,” she said.
Beyond Central Asia, bilateral trade between India and Vietnam tripled
to a record $16.4 billion in 2025 from $5.4 billion in 2016. Investment
has also increased, with India investing in Vietnam’s energy,
technology, and farm industries such as sugar and coffee.
Vingroup’s electric vehicle factory in the southern Indian state of
Tamil Nadu leads its investments in India. The company launched an
electric taxi service in New Delhi in June and has signed agreements
with state governments to develop smart cities, hospitals, schools,
theme parks and zoos.
It is also building an EV factory in Indonesia and is operating an EV
taxi service in the Philippines.
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 In Africa, Vingroup has signed an
agreement with the Democratic Republic of Congo to build a
6,300-hectare (15,567-acre) riverfront city between the Congo River
and Kinshasa’s international airport. Vinfast also plans to supply
the DRC with electric vehicles and possibly electric buses, as the
country plans to replace over 300,000 fossil-fueled vehicles with
EVs.
Vingroup and Ghana's Jospong Group are distributing
cars, scooters, bikes and buses made by its electric vehicle arm
Vinfast across West Africa.
“Ghana is actually a smart play for Vinfast,” said Tom Courtright of
the Africa E-Mobility Alliance, citing the country’s eight-year
guarantee of EV tax incentives, population of more than 35 million
and relatively large car market. In Ghana, he noted, there is
limited competition from Chinese electric vehicle makers.
Growth is slowing at home for Vingroup
Pressure on Vingroup has mounted as profit from Vinhomes, its
property development arm, has slowed.
Home prices in Vietnam's biggest cities have surged and there aren't
enough affordable homes since most new developments cater to wealthy
buyers. Construction has boomed outside major cities, but demand has
failed to keep pace, leaving many apartments empty, said Le Hong
Hiep, of the ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.
“They used to do very well. But it will not last forever,” he said.
In June, Vinhomes said it would stop expanding its domestic land
bank and instead focus on developing existing projects in Vietnam.
Vingroup did not respond to requests for comment by the time of
publication.
Automaker VinFast posted a $3.87 billion net loss in 2025. While it
delivered a record 196,919 vehicles, more than double the previous
year’s total and its highest annual figure to date, that cost it
$5.13 billion, according to a filing with the US Securities and
Exchange Commission.
It showed VinFast wrote down the value of its delayed North Carolina
factory by $236 million.
The company had hoped to join the ranks of global automakers when it
entered the U.S. market in 2023 and listed on the Nasdaq. But weak
sales in Western markets prompted it to shift its focus to emerging
markets in Asia, where more motorcycle owners are buying their first
cars.
Vingroup looks to replicate its Vietnam strategy abroad
Vingroup appears to be wagering that its formula for success in
Vietnam can be replicated in other developing economies at a similar
stage of growth.
Its founder Pham Nhat Vuong started out making instant noodles in
Ukraine in the 1990s and then began building large housing projects
in Vietnam. Vingroup then added hospitals, schools and shopping
malls, creating communities that needed other services and goods,
such as EVs.
“They think they may be able to replicate their success in real
estate business in those overseas markets,” said Hiep.
But there will be obstacles.
Courtright, the transport expert, noted that while investors in the
DRC are often drawn by the size of its population of 124 million,
similar to Japan's, Vingroup may be overlooking why few foreign
companies operate there. Outside North and South Africa, he said,
ride-hailing is largely limited to cities such as Lagos and Nairobi
because it depends on widespread smartphone use and adequate
incomes.
Megaprojects like the one proposed on the banks of the Congo River,
are common in the DRC, often end with signed agreements that never
materialize.
“It doesn’t make a lot of sense,” he said.
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