According to Nguyen Hoai Huong, Director of Intel Vietnam’s material purchasing division, Vietnamese businesses account for only a small proportion of the company’s total 55 providers of materials and support products.

Businesses operating in the SHTP have big demands for locally-made parts and accessories, said Vo Anh Tuan, Deputy Director of the SHTP Management Board, adding that the management board and Intel Vietnam have jointly organised a conference to seek domestic suppliers.

Earlier, the two sides have cooperated in implementing a hi-tech support industry development programme under which Intel Vietnam helps SHTP set up an appraisal centre in Ho Chi Minh City in the next three years to assess the quality of products and services provided by businesses which have prospects of becoming suppliers for Intel.

The SHTP Management Board plans to zone off 14.5 ha of land for providers of hi-tech parts and the land is expected to be transferred to the businesses in early 2012.

According to Nguyen Thi Minh Thu, Head of the SHTP’s Investment Promotion and International Relations Division, in addition to direct access to customers which are foreign makers of hi-tech products, support industry businesses in the SHTP will enjoy cheaper land hiring prices compared to those in other industrial and export processing zones as well as receive support from the city’s technological development fund.

To create a uniform and favourable legal framework for businesses operating in the support industry, in early July, the Ministry of Trade and Industry will submit to the Government a draft list of prioritised products of support industries, including hi-tech products.