Nidec is set to expand its Vietnam investment to many sectors, including robotics, Shigenobu Nagamori, chairman of the Japanese high-tech corporation, told Tuoi Tre.

Nagomori is in Ho Chi Minh City to work with municipal authorities on a plan to set up a high-tech center in the city.

“We have been preferentially granted a land plot and will expand investment by US$100 million by the end of this month,” he said.

Nidec will pump its money into the car spare parts and robotics industries, which the chairman said are real high-tech manufacturing sectors whose technology cannot be easily brought into Vietnam.

“The additional investment can be increased to up to $2 billion,” he added.

Nagamori said the most important factor of the nine-figure plan is workforce training.

What matters is how to recruit the best students from the local top universities and have them trained in Japan before working at our Vietnam-based high-tech research centers or plants, he elaborated.

The company also wanted to know which preferential treatments local government will give, and how much they support Nidec’s plans, he added.

“After all, it is a ten-year plan, so everything needs to be well-prepared,” he concluded.

Nidec Corporation currently operates as many as nine plants in Vietnam, with a combined investment of $800 million, according to the company. The companies are manufacturing the electric motors found in hard-disk drives, household electric appliances and manufacturing equipment.

Nidec is using more than 20,000 local laborers, and enjoying annual revenue of some $800 million.

Nagamori said the current administrative procedures have been much improved compared to March 2007, when he opened the first two Nidec plants in the city.

But several licensing procedures still take too much time, he added.

He also pointed out a big issue for Vietnam that the government does not know which sectors they should prioritize for investment.

Vietnam should figure out its future road, rather than just focus on increasing the volume of foreign investment, he said.

Another thing that needs improvement is the participation of local companies in Nidec production chain.

Local supporting companies currently account for only 20 percent of Nidec production, and the figure should be increased to 50 percent in the future, he said.

Nidec still has to import several spare parts from China and Thailand due to the inadequate supporting industries, he added.

“Supporting industry is one of the important sectors for us to consider expanding investment in Vietnam,” he concluded.