SpaceX, Boeing, Netflix To Join “Biggest-Ever” US Business Mission To Vietnam

SpaceX, Boeing and Netflix are among the companies taking part in the “biggest-ever” U.S. business mission to Vietnam this week to discuss investment and sales opportunities in the fast-growing Southeast Asian nation, the organizer said.

More than 50 companies, including tech, defence, and pharmaceutical firms, will take part in the mission organized by the US-ASEAN Business Council, an industry body, according to a list seen by Reuters.

The delegation is a sign of increasing interest in the global manufacturing hub, which is profiting from a shift away from China amid Sino-U.S. trade friction.

Vietnam, with a population of 100 million people, also has a fast-growing 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 organizing these events for thirty years.

Streaming giant Netflix (NFLX.O), which Reuters in February reported was arranging to open an office in Vietnam, is among the firms joining the trip. Netflix did not reply to a request for comment.

Aerospace manufacturers Boeing (BA.N), Bell (TXT.N), and Lockheed Martin (LMT.N) will hold meetings with state-owned Vietnamese defence procurement firms, Thanh told Reuters, adding that it was the first time in about 10 years that security companies had decided to participate in the annual mission to Vietnam.

In December, the same firms held talks with Vietnamese government officials about the possible sale of drones and helicopters, as the country looks for new suppliers and the Ukraine conflict weakens the capabilities of Russia, for decades Vietnam’s main military partner.

“Helicopters is one of the things the companies hope to sell to the Vietnamese,” Thanh said, although he warned that defence deals took time to be finalized and no instant breakthrough was expected.

Boeing said in a statement that its talks with officials would centre on its building partnership with Vietnam and ways to extend the country’s aviation and defence capabilities.

Lockheed Martin and Bell failed to reply to requests for comment.

The majority of the firms joining the business mission already have a business or manufacturing presence in Vietnam, including Apple (AAPL.O), PepsiCo (PEP.O), and Coca-Cola (KO.N), Thanh said, with some planning to grow it.

Some firms are also coming to get a better understanding of the political situation after recent unrest in the Communist-Party-led country, including the resignation of the president in January, Thanh added.

Participants will meet with Vietnam’s top political and regulatory leadership, including Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

Thanh said some companies were interested in Vietnam as a manufacturing hub and in offering services to increasingly rich consumers at a time when economic growth hit more than 8% in 2022.

Among them is SpaceX, which is looking to sell its satellite internet services to Vietnam and other countries in the region, Thanh said. SpaceX failed to reply to a request for comment.

The mission will also include semiconductors companies, medical device maker Abbott (ABT.N), pharmaceutical giants Pfizer (PFE.N) and Johnson & Johnson (PFE.N), financial firms Citibank (C.N) and Visa (V.N), internet and cloud companies Amazon Web Services (AMZN.O) and Meta (META.O), the list showed.