Vietnam’s biggest company, Vingroup, expands overseas as its home market slows

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.

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.

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.

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 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.