SpaceX plans $15 billion investment in Vietnam

HANOI – SpaceX is proposing to invest US$15 billion in Vietnam tied to its Starlink satellite service in the near future, the Southeast Asian country’s government said.
The statement came after a meeting in New York between Vietnamese President To Lam and Tim Hughes, SpaceX’s Senior Vice President for Global Business and Government Affairs.
“The Vietnamese government is considering the (investment) proposal of SpaceX,” Lam, who was visiting the United States to attend the United Nations General Assembly, said in the statement.
Lam asked US-based SpaceX to closely work with relevant parties in Vietnam to efficiently complete the pre-investment preparations, according to the statement on the website of the country’s National Assembly. 
No further details were provided. SpaceX did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment after normal US working hours. Government officials in Vietnam were not immediately available for comment.
Vietnam’s government said last year that SpaceX was interested in providing the country with its low-Earth orbit satellite service. Earlier this year, Reuters reported that those plans were put on hold. 
According to the Vietnamese statement, Lam told Elon Musk’s Starlink, a subsidiary of SpaceX that uses thousands of satellites to provide web access, the nation will coordinate with domestic partners to complete investment procedures, it said.
Lam, who met with US President Joe Biden, also held meetings with major companies, including Boeing Co and Meta Platforms Inc.
According to the government statement, Karan Bhatia, Google’s vice president for government affairs and public policy, told Lam the Silicon Valley company expects to work with Vietnam to develop artificial intelligence (AI) technology, cloud computing and increasing collaboration cybersecurity.