According to the Foreign Investment Department, FDI has recovered strongly with nearly US$21 billion committed in the first 11 months. The country attracted nearly 1,200 new projects from 54 foreign countries and territories and permitted 450 ongoing projects to increase their capital in the first 11 months of this year.

This year work began on many large projects immediately after receiving licences, said head of the Foreign Investment Department, Do Nhat Hoang. 

The northern province of Hai Duong has licensed projects worth around US$677 million.

"We believe that next year more FDI capital will arrive in our province because many investors have sent in applications," Mai Duc Chon, head of the province's industrial parks and processing zones management board, said.

At the Lai Vu Industrial Park, two major investors, Tinh Loi Garment and Pacific Crystal Textile of Hong Kong, are building plants, and by March next year plan to have 5,000 and 3,000 workers respectively.

Pacific Crystal, with a registered capital of US$425 million, is building a factory that will manufacture 360 million metres of cloth every year.

Tinh Loi Garment has invested US$120 million to produce 170 million pieces of garments a year. It plans to hire around 17,000 workers eventually.

Korean and Japanese investors are also exploring business opportunities in the province.

The Samsung High-tech Complex in another northern province, Thai Nguyen, is going ahead with construction of a US$2 billion mobile phone factory and hopes to begin production in March 2014. The complex received the licence in March and started construction just a week later.

The factory along with Samsung Electronics Vietnam (SEV) in northern Bac Ninh province will churn out 250 million mobile phones a year, making Vietnam the company's major production hub.

This year SEV is set to achieve US$23.5 billion in exports. The company will spend US$1.9 billion this year of its registered capital of US$2.5 billion, mainly on technology.

"No more workshop or factory will be built," said Kim Yong Seok, planning director of the Samsung High-Tech Complex, adding that "the most important thing is to invest in technology."

In the central province of Ha Tinh, work on the US$9.9 billion Formosa Steel project is progressing quickly.

The company plans to begin operation by the middle of 2015 and is set to hire around 1,300 workers at the first stage.