Ha Noi Party chief calls for removing bottlenecks at Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park

Tran made the request on July 10 while chairing a working session with the Management Board of Ha Noi's Hi-Tech Parks and Industrial Parks.

He stressed that Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park has favorable conditions to attract leading technology investors. To fully capitalize on these strengths, the city should simultaneously develop high-quality human resources, expand the network of universities, and improve electricity and transport infrastructure, as well as cultural, healthcare, educational and housing facilities for experts and workers.

According to a report presented at the meeting, Ha Noi currently has nine operational industrial parks accommodating 740 projects, with occupancy rates nearing 100 percent. Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park alone hosts 113 projects.

In the first half of 2026, the Management Board carried out 25 key tasks and attracted approximately US$848.5 million in investment, equivalent to 116.2 percent of the annual target and 28.6 percent higher than the amount attracted in the whole of 2025. Manufacturing and business activities in the city's hi-tech parks and industrial parks remained stable.

Despite these achievements, several bottlenecks remain. At Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park, 87.7 hectares of land have yet to be cleared, the occupancy rate of commercial land stands at around 42 percent, scientific and technological infrastructure remains incomplete, and the park's investment, management and operational model requires further reform.

New development model needed for Hoa Lac

Speaking at the meeting, Vice Chairman of the Ha Noi People's Committee Truong Viet Dung said the biggest obstacle facing Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park is not infrastructure or land availability, but its development mindset.

According to international experience, a successful hi-tech park should adopt a "1+1 ecosystem" model, integrating a high-tech zone with a modern urban area. It should function not only as a center for research and innovation but also as a key driver of economic growth and technological advancement for the capital.

Truong Viet Dung said Hoa Lac has reached the limits of its previous development model and should adopt a new development approach while improving its governance structure, enhancing management autonomy and adopting a more selective investment strategy focused on high-tech industries. At the same time, supporting commercial and service sectors should be accelerated to complete the innovation ecosystem.

One of the top priorities is to formulate a comprehensive strategic master plan to transform Hoa Lac into a modern science and technology city. The city should also attract universities, research institutes, research and development (R&D) centers, innovation hubs and major technology corporations to establish an ecosystem for research, education and technology transfer.

Concluding the meeting, Tran stressed that removing bottlenecks at Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park requires a new approach and should be incorporated into the overall development strategy for western Ha Noi, with close links to transport infrastructure, Viet Nam National University-Ha Noi, other universities, Hoa Lac Airport, the urban railway network and surrounding urban areas.

He assigned the Organization Commission of the Ha Noi Party Committee to coordinate with the Party Committee of the Ha Noi People's Committee to strengthen the park's leadership and management structure.

The city will also expedite site clearance, review development orientations, investment attraction mechanisms, policy frameworks and administrative procedures, and examine all existing and planned investment projects. Delayed or underperforming projects will be terminated to create clean land for more capable investors.

Tran reiterated that Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park has strong potential to attract world-leading technology companies if a comprehensive ecosystem is established. He called for continued investment in human resources, universities, electricity and transport infrastructure, as well as cultural, healthcare, educational and housing facilities to create a favorable environment for businesses to invest and expand over the long term.

Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park: A strategic digital infrastructure hub for Ha Noi and the nation

Earlier, Politburo Resolution No. 02/2026/NQ-TW on the development of Ha Noi in a new era identifies the establishment of a new growth model as one of the key tasks, with Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park serving as the core center for research and development, piloting new technology policies and testing emerging technologies under controlled regulatory mechanisms.

Within Ha Noi's overall science and technology infrastructure, Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park serves as a strategic nucleus. It is expected to become a national center for research, innovation and technology transfer while progressively integrating into regional and global innovation networks.

While the 2011-2020 period was marked by prolonged challenges, including delayed site clearance, incomplete technical infrastructure and limited transport connectivity, the 2021-2025 period marked an important transition from unlocking the park's potential to realizing its strategic role.

Over the past five years, Hoa Lac has expanded not only in scale but also in the quality of its spatial planning, investment projects and innovation ecosystem. By 2025, it had gradually taken shape as a science and technology satellite city, playing an increasingly important role in Viet Nam's national innovation network.

One of the clearest indicators of Hoa Lac's transformation is its investment performance. By the end of July 2025, the city's industrial parks and Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park had attracted 844 projects, including 734 in industrial parks and 110 in Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park, with total registered investment capital reaching US$13.75 billion.

Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park alone accounted for approximately US$5 billion in registered investment, reflecting its growing appeal to both domestic and foreign investors.

These achievements have resulted from Ha Noi's continued efforts to improve core infrastructure, facilitate access to land, electricity, water and telecommunications, and introduce investment incentives tailored to the hi-tech park.

Under Ha Noi's 100-year Master Plan, science, technology and innovation are identified as key drivers of development. The city aims to build an innovation ecosystem in which Ha Noi develops, designs and masters advanced technologies, with Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park serving as the core.

Transport connectivity between Hoa Lac and central Ha Noi has also improved considerably, helping remove the long-standing perception that the area is remote. Since March 2026, the city has introduced new bus routes linking the inner city with Hoa Lac while advancing transit-oriented development (TOD) projects along Thang Long Boulevard in parallel with the construction of Metro Line No. 5 connecting Van Cao and Hoa Lac.

The composition of investment projects has also shifted toward higher value-added activities, with a growing presence of high-tech enterprises, R&D centers, innovative startups and organizations supporting the technology ecosystem. This reflects Hoa Lac's transition from a conventional hi-tech industrial park to a diversified innovation hub.

Since 2024, Hoa Lac has also assumed a new strategic role as northern Viet Nam's digital infrastructure center.

The establishment of two large-scale data centers by VNPT and Viettel has positioned Hoa Lac at the forefront of Viet Nam's data center industry, providing essential infrastructure for the digital economy, digital government, artificial intelligence (AI), big data and cloud computing.

The year 2024 marked an important milestone as Hoa Lac strengthened not only its physical infrastructure but also its core digital infrastructure, gradually evolving into a strategic digital infrastructure hub for both Ha Noi and the nation.

The decision by VNPT and Viettel to establish large-scale data centers in Hoa Lac reflects the area's advantages in land availability, technical infrastructure, security and long-term expansion potential. More importantly, the two facilities perform complementary strategic functions, creating an integrated data infrastructure ecosystem.

Viettel Data Center Hoa Lac is the first data center in Viet Nam to commit to sourcing 30 percent of its operating energy from renewable sources. By reducing an estimated 2,100 tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually, the facility demonstrates how Viet Nam's Net Zero commitment can be translated into concrete action in the high-tech sector.

Meanwhile, VNPT IDC Hoa Lac serves as a key digital infrastructure facility supporting Ha Noi's e-government system. As VNPT's largest data center at the time it entered operation, the facility was designed and constructed to Uptime Tier III standards, ensuring high availability, reliability and security for critical information systems.

Together, VNPT IDC and Viettel Data Center have formed one of Viet Nam's largest data infrastructure clusters, combining large scale, high technical standards and sustainable development. The cluster has enhanced Hoa Lac's attractiveness to technology enterprises, AI startups, fintech companies and R&D centers, while laying the foundation for the park to become an important data hub in the national digital infrastructure network.

Most recently, Viettel proposed expanding its presence in Hoa Lac by an additional 40 hectares, including 25 hectares for high-tech development and 15 hectares for a park, with long-term demand potentially reaching 100 hectares to support a large-scale research and manufacturing complex.

At the same time, CMC Corporation is developing an integrated research and development complex at Hoa Lac, featuring R&D facilities, data storage infrastructure and research into core technologies such as artificial intelligence and semiconductor chips.

With Ha Noi stepping up efforts to remove institutional bottlenecks, improve policies and accelerate infrastructure development, alongside continued investment by enterprises and research organizations, Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park is expected to become a leading science and technology hub and innovation center in Viet Nam.

The development of Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park is also expected to contribute to Ha Noi's goal of becoming a leading innovation center in the Asia-Pacific region by 2045, serving as a hub for knowledge, technology and innovation./.