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"He has voiced special fondness for Vietnam, which like China is shifting from Communism to market-oriented policies, and which Mr. Gou lauded for putting economic development ahead of political liberalization."
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Here is the article from Wall Street Journal

Hon Hai to Invest $5 Billion in Vietnam
By JASON DEAN and NGUYEN PHAM MUOI
August 29, 2007 9:39 a.m.

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the world's biggest electronics contract manufacturer by revenue, is quintupling its planned investment in Vietnam to $5 billion, reflecting the southeast Asian country's growing appeal to high-tech manufacturers.

Hon Hai and its affiliates will make the investment over the next five years, spokesman Edmund Ding said Wednesday. The company, which manufactures personal computers and consumer gadgets for customers including Hewlett-Packard Co. and Apple Inc., has already been ramping up its operations in Vietnam this year, and had previously said it planned to spend $1 billion there. The new investment will go to factories that will make a range of components and products, including digital cameras, Mr. Ding said in a telephone interview.

Hon Hai's planned investment marks a significant victory in Vietnam's increasingly successful effort to woo foreign technology companies, which value its inexpensive labor and relatively stable economic regime. Last year, Intel Corp. said it would build a $1 billion semiconductor testing and assembly plant near Ho Chi Minh City in the south. Call centers and other outsourcing operations have also established themselves in Vietnam to make the most of the country's young and increasingly computer-literate population.

Intel's decision in particular was treated as a seal of approval by other investors here, and prompted a buying spree of local stocks on the Vietnamese stock market. After the Intel announcement early last year, Vietnamese government officials say they fielded a surge of inquiries from other companies also hoping to build plants in Vietnam.

Hon Hai has long centered its manufacturing operations in China, where it is the single biggest exporter and employs some half million workers. But Terry Gou, the company's hard-driving founder and chairman, has been rapidly expanding its international presence in recent years, from Brazil to Hungary. He has voiced special fondness for Vietnam, which like China is shifting from Communism to market-oriented policies, and which Mr. Gou lauded for putting economic development ahead of political liberalization.

"Vietnam is good. Why? Because they follow the Chinese system," Mr. Gou said in an interview earlier this year. "They are not [moving] too fast to move to an American-style democratic system."

Mr. Ding, the Hon Hai spokesman, said Wednesday the company is also expanding in Vietnam because of requests from its customers.

Hon Hai has already invested about $200 million in Vietnam and could become the biggest single foreign investor by investment amount and export revenue in five years, said Nguyen Dinh Oanh, an official in Bac Ninh province, about 40 kilometers north of the capital, Hanoi. The total $5 billion investment could create employment for about 300,000 workers, said Mr. Oanh, a director of the industrial parks management board in Bac Ninh, where Hon Hai has so far opened two plants.

Mr. Ding declined to comment on employment numbers.

Mr. Oanh said Vietnam is ready to provide Hon Hai with land of up to 2,000 hectares to build a large industrial park, commercial properties and housing areas.

South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore are the top 5 investors in Vietnam.

and all from East Asia. Glad to see that Asian countries are helping out each other.