A Vietnam Report survey on the 500 most profitable companies in the country, which was announced this week, said most business insiders expect technology to remain the leader in attracting investment.
Technology was the most common answer among enterprises (51.4% of respondents), construction and real estate (40%) and retail (34.3%).
In the Profit500 Ranking, the companies with the highest average pre-tax profits are in telecommunications, information and technology. The enterprises have the potential to show stable growth profit indicators.
While the world is moving towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the application of technology in Vietnamese businesses is still in its early stages due to lack of capital, infrastructure and a skilled workforce.
The report said many Vietnamese businesses have strong demand but not enough strategic orientation in the investment process. 57% of surveyed businesses reported they are speeding up investment in technology. 37.1% are investing gradually and 8.6% are still in preparatory stages.
Businesses expect the Fourth Industrial Revolution to help cut their costs, optimise efficiency and increase market share.
In the 2018 Profit500, the number of firms in construction, building materials, real estate (14.8%), electricity (12.8%), finance (11.2%), and food, beverages and cigarettes (10.4%) accounted for a majority of businesses on the list.
The average pre-tax profit of the top 500 most profitable companies in 2017 grew more than 65% from 2016. The sectors with the highest return on asset (ROA) and return on equity (REO) were telecommunications, information technology, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, transportation, food, beverages and cigarettes.
The survey also revealed that, despite positive trends, enterprises face a long list of potential risks and challenges. The escalating US-China trade war and increasing US import duties on some key commodities are raising concerns, as are volatile exchange rates and tax burdens. 51.4% of respondents cited exchange rates as the biggest difficulty affecting their performance over the past year, followed by taxation at 42.9%.
In the face of economic fluctuations, it is noteworthy that most of the firms approved of the State’s macro-economic management to curb inflation, adjust exchange rates and access information and legal documents.
More than 97.1% of enterprises rated efforts to maintain economic stability and improve the business climate as “good” or “excellent” in the first nine months of the year. Enterprises expressed discontent in the effectiveness of administrative services, infrastructure and access to land.
However, enterprises are still optimistic about their performance this year. 90% expect their profits will be higher than last year and only 8.6% expect profits to stay the same.
The ranking aimed to honour enterprises that are profitable and have the potential to become the backbone of the Vietnamese economy and contribute to the introduction of Vietnamese brands to the international business community.
The award ceremony for the ranking will be held on November 29 at the Vietnam National Convention Centre.
From a property-market perspective, Do Thi Thu Giang, National Director of Valuation and Advisory at Savills Vietnam, said the orientations under Resolution No. 21-NQ/TW could make the market more transparent and efficient, with property values increasingly tied to actual development and use potential.
Chinese carmakers are putting new pressure on prices and technology while testing Vietnam’s ability to retain more value.
Science and technology, innovation, digital transformation and AI must be translated into higher productivity rather than pursued as ends in themselves. At the same time, people should be placed at the centre of development, not merely viewed as a resource but as the ultimate objective of development policies.
US retail giant Target is seeking Vietnamese suppliers of household goods, home textiles, children’s products, personal care and beauty products, with a focus on companies capable of manufacturing and developing products that meet requirements on quality, design and supply chain management.
The annual event, which will be held on August 18-19, 2026, at the ICE International Exhibition Centre, 91 Tran Hung Dao Street, Hanoi, is expected to attract around 324 delegates and feature 21 booths representing credit institutions, payment intermediary service providers, and technology companies.
Vietnam should give priority to areas where it has potential to build strengths, particularly manufacturing and packaging.
Vietnam has built a solid semiconductor and electronics industry before joining ITSI, attracting major US semiconductor companies. Intel Products Vietnam is one of Intel's largest assembly and testing facilities worldwide, while chip design companies such as Synopsys, Cadence, Marvell and Qualcomm have established engineering and research centres in the Southeast Asian country.
According to the Ministry of Construction, Vietnam has around 2,500 old apartment blocks and collective housing complexes built before 1994, covering about 3 million square metres of floor space, mainly in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Of these, around 196 have been classified as severely deteriorated and unsafe.
Durian exports reached nearly 1.1 billion USD in the first six months of 2026, up 32% year-on-year. The industry's strongest export season, however, is still ahead.
The country's agro-forestry-aquatic product exports reached nearly 42.8 billion USD in the January–July period, up 7.5% year-on-year and equivalent to almost 60% of the annual target of 74 billion USD.
During the first seven months of 2026, Vietnam attracted more than 38 billion USD in registered FDI, up nearly 58% year-on-year. More importantly, the increase was driven by large-scale, high-tech projects rather than a surge in the number of new investments, signalling a significant improvement in the quality of capital inflows.
Manufacturing and engineering posted the strongest recruitment growth, with hiring demand surging 70% year-on-year, driven by production expansion, supply chain restructuring and sustained investment inflows in high-tech manufacturing.
Vietnam's total import-export turnover reached 659.58 billion USD in the first seven months of 2026, up 28.1% year-on-year.
The projects in Phu Quoc have been implemented under tight deadlines. Since May 2025, the Prime Minister has directed preparations for APEC 2027, including accelerated infrastructure development on the special zone. An Giang province and investors have subsequently launched a number of major projects involving complex technical requirements and demanding construction schedules.
The NSO also reported that realised FDI reached an estimated 15.2 billion USD during the January-July period, an increase of 11.8% from a year earlier and the highest seven-month disbursement recorded over the past five years.
Household deposits at banks reached a new high of 10.8 quadrillion VND (414 billion USD) at the end of May, up more than 108 trillion VND from April and increasing by 4.76% from the beginning of the year, equivalent to nearly 492 trillion VND.
The plan seeks to develop a balanced and modern financial market that is closely integrated with regional and global markets, strengthens the mobilisation and allocation of domestic and foreign capital, and enhances the market’s role as a key provider of medium- and long-term capital for the economy and as a major driver of sustained high economic growth.
Under the province's master plan for 2021–2030 with a vision to 2050, An Giang will prioritise investment in five strategic sectors: strategic infrastructure; processing industries and clean energy; trade, services, logistics and border-gate economy; high-quality tourism; and high-tech agriculture, ecological development and the circular economy.
According to the VCCI, these measures are not only necessary for managing potential risks arising from US trade actions but also crucial to enhancing competitiveness and meeting growing international expectations on compliance, product origin, quality and transparency.
Businesses say the biggest obstacle to reducing emissions and transforming production models remains the lack of financial resources needed to upgrade technologies, modernise production lines and build governance systems that comply with global sustainability standards.