Alternative zu China: Das Wirtschaftswunder von Vietnam

Haiphong, Ho-Chi-Minh City. Rows of ventilators destined for AI data centers from American tech giants pile up in a warehouse near the city. In the middle stands Alexander Reich, head of the German manufacturer Ziehl-Abegg's branch in the Southeast Asian country. The ventilation equipment supplier is responsible for a major contract aimed at Amazon's AI infrastructure.

The rollout is set to begin in the coming weeks. "We will then ship around eight shipping containers full of ventilators to the USA each week," says Reich. The manager, who previously lived in China, walks through the factory of the German family business, covering 14,000 square meters. Next year, 60 percent of the Vietnamese plant's production would be delivered to the USA, he said.

Ventilators sent to data center suppliers in Malaysia, which are then shipped to America, are not even counted. "Vietnam is well interconnected with all countries and has the decisive advantage for us that we can ship from here to the USA without any problem," says Reich. "It would be much more difficult to do so from China." Ziehl-Abegg has its largest plant in Asia in China.

To reduce its dependence on the People's Republic, the company opened a new factory in the Vietnamese province of Dong Nai two years ago, just an hour away from Ho-Chi-Minh City by car. The German Mittelstand company is thus part of a massive rush by international corporations to expand their presence in Vietnam, spending billions in the process. What does this mean for China? And what opportunities are there for German companies?