Wow was today busy. We had to visit two different companies, Coherent and Saigon High Tech Park. Today was a very technical day, so I found it pretty interesting. Coherent is a materials science company that also manufactures parts for consumers. Right now, their main focus is fiber optics and silicon carbide construction. Since Coherent has no competitors in Vietnam, they have become very large. They have nine different buildings in the industrial park that we visited, and are planning to expand even larger. They plan to build 6 more buildings in Vietnam, closer to Ho Chi Minh City’s new international airport, as to promote more efficient international trading. Coherent also plans to increase their workforce from about 1500 workers now, to over 5000 workers by 2028. Coherent is a rapidly expanding company, and seeing how they are an American based company, globalization is allowing them to expand stronger and faster than anyone expected. I find it fascinating that Vietnam has some thriving industries that I’ve never learned about. For the most part, everyone imported in the US is from China, so seeing these massive corporations in Vietnam is fascinating to me.
To end the day off, we visited Saigon High Tech Park (SHTP). There, investors can observe new technologies being invented by local university students or other start-ups. SHTP has become a very trustworthy destination for investors, as some of their products have become massive hits. For instance, they showed us a camera company created there as well as a food storage machine for lower-income families that cannot afford a fridge. I think the most interesting part of the visit was going to a local university. There, multiple rooms have been set up to get training with heavy machinery like mills, CNC, and even robotics. Teaching students about engineering, especially hands on learning, is extremely beneficial and will help to generate smarter and amazing future engineers.
