AP — Vingroup, Vietnam's largest private conglomerate, is expanding into global markets after its domestic business has slowed, with plans for more than 20 projects in at least 15 countries — ranging from a "Vietnam Town" in Uzbekistan to a smart city in India and a riverside development in Congo.
Profits from real estate, Vingroup's core business, have long funded investments in various industries including automobile manufacturing and technology. However, Vietnam's once-booming property market is now slowing, while its electric vehicle subsidiary VinFast is operating at a loss.
As opportunities for large-scale domestic development become scarcer, Vietnam's largest private company is looking abroad for the revenues needed to support its ambitions in electric vehicles, artificial intelligence, and robotics — industries central to the country's goal of becoming Asia's next economic tiger.
In Uzbekistan, Vingroup signed an agreement in December to build a "Vietnam Town" in Tashkent, the country's capital. In Central Asia's largest metropolis, the company plans to develop projects modelled on its flagship developments in Vietnam, combining residential units, shopping centres, schools, hospitals, and electric vehicle charging stations.
Other projects include tourist attractions such as a zoo in India and smart city projects in Africa, along with plans to develop components and motors for robots in Germany.
Much like China before it, Vietnam wants to build companies capable of competing at a global level, as the export-driven economic model that lifted the country out of poverty faces unprecedented pressures, according to To Lam, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
"Growth is slowing, public debt and the cost of capital are rising, climate change threatens the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people, and disruptive technology creates enormous opportunities while at the same time generating new inequalities," To Lam said in a speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's leading security and defence summit.
Vietnam is accelerating its push into markets around the world after US President Donald Trump's tariff measures exposed the risks of over-reliance on a small number of export markets, with the United States accounting for more than 30% of Vietnam's exports.
Central Asia has become a key target, with trade with Uzbekistan reaching $202 million in 2024, up 26.5% from the previous year, while Vietnam elevated its relationship with Kazakhstan to a strategic partnership in 2025.
Uzbekistan has been promoting private enterprise and foreign investment since its authoritarian government loosened state controls in 2017. Central Asian nations have also expanded their trade beyond Russia following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to Bhavna Dave, a senior lecturer in Central Asian politics at SOAS University.
Chinese investment has grown, but Tashkent is eager to strengthen ties with countries across Asia, which it views as the world's most dynamic economic region, Dave said.
Beyond Central Asia, bilateral trade between India and Vietnam has tripled to $16.4 billion in 2025, up from $5.4 billion in 2016. Investment has also increased, with India investing in Vietnam's energy, technology, and agricultural sectors such as sugar and coffee.
Vingroup's electric vehicle manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu, in southern India, has led its investment drive there, and the company also launched an electric taxi service in New Delhi in June and has signed agreements with local governments to develop smart cities, hospitals, schools, amusement parks, and zoos.
The company is also building an electric vehicle factory in Indonesia and has launched an electric taxi service in the Philippines.
In Africa, Vingroup signed an agreement with the Democratic Republic of Congo to build a 6,300-hectare riverside city between the Congo River and Kinshasa International Airport. VinFast also plans to supply electric cars and possibly electric buses to Congo, as the country plans to convert more than 300,000 fossil-fuel vehicles to electric vehicles.
Vingroup and Ghana's Jospong Group are distributing cars, scooters, motorcycles, and buses manufactured by VinFast, Vingroup's electric vehicle subsidiary.
"Ghana is a smart strategy for VinFast," said Tom Courtright of the Africa E-Mobility Alliance, citing the country's guaranteed eight-year tax incentives for electric vehicles, a population of more than 35 million, and a relatively large auto market. He added that competition from Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers in Ghana is relatively limited.
Pressure on Vingroup has mounted as profits from Vinhomes, its real estate development subsidiary, have slowed.
House prices in Vietnam's major cities have surged, and affordable housing is in short supply as most new developments cater to wealthy buyers. Construction has boomed on the outskirts of large cities, but demand has not kept pace, leaving large numbers of apartments empty, according to Le Hong Hiep of the ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.
"These homes used to sell very well, but it couldn't last forever," Le Hong Hiep said.
In June, Vinhomes announced it would halt domestic land bank expansion and instead focus on developing its existing projects.
VinFast, the electric vehicle manufacturer, reported a net loss of $8.87 billion in 2025, even as it delivered 196,919 vehicles — more than double the previous year's figure and the highest annual total on record — at a cost to the company of $5.13 billion, according to documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The report stated that VinFast wrote down $236 million from its delayed North Carolina factory.
The company had hoped to establish itself as a global automaker when it entered the US market in 2023 and listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange, but weak sales in Western markets forced it to pivot toward emerging markets in Asia, where large numbers of motorcycle owners are buying their first car.
Vingroup appears to be betting that the formula for success in Vietnam can be replicated in other developing countries at a similar stage of growth.
The company's founder, Pham Nhat Vuong, started out manufacturing instant noodles in Ukraine in the 1990s, before launching large-scale residential projects in Vietnam. Vingroup subsequently added hospital, school, and shopping mall operations, building communities that would then need other goods and services — such as electric vehicles.
"They think they may be able to replicate the success of the real estate business in those foreign markets," Le Hong Hiep said.
Courtright, the transportation expert, noted that while investors in Congo are often drawn to its population of 124 million — comparable to Japan — Vingroup may be overlooking the reasons why few foreign companies operate there. Beyond North Africa and South Africa, most ride-hailing services are limited to cities such as Lagos and Nairobi because they depend on widespread smartphone use and sufficient income levels.
Large-scale projects like the one proposed on the banks of the Congo River often end with agreements that are signed but never materialise, Courtright said.
