AEON Mall Breaks Ground on New Facility in Bac Ninh Province with About USD 150 Million Investment — Its 9th Building in a Northern FDI Hub

In May 2026, AEON Mall Vietnam broke ground on a new large-scale commercial facility in the Tan Tien area of Bac Ninh Province, northern Vietnam. The investment amount is about USD 149 million (about JPY 23.1 billion), with a site area of 7.7 hectares. It obtained an investment registration certificate on April 28 and is targeting completion within 36 months.

Full Details of the Bac Ninh Province Project

This facility, jointly developed by AEON Mall Vietnam and New Land Investment JSC, is a mixed-use commercial facility that integrates retail, dining, entertainment, and office leasing. It is targeting a 2027 opening.

Bac Ninh Province is known as a hub for foreign-invested manufacturers such as Samsung and Canon, with cumulative registered FDI (foreign direct investment) exceeding USD 49.4 billion. Japanese companies alone operate about 130 projects worth about USD 2 billion, and demand had been rising for large-scale commercial facilities catering to factory workers and expatriate staff.

Investment Data

Why Bac Ninh Province? The Pull of USD 49.4 Billion in Cumulative FDI

Bac Ninh Province ranks second nationwide in registered FDI. More than 3,500 foreign-invested projects operate there, including Samsung Electronics' flagship smartphone factory, alongside manufacturing bases from Canon, Bridgestone, and others. As a result, several hundred thousand factory workers along with managers and engineers are concentrated in the province, and large-scale commercial facilities as living infrastructure had been lacking.

For AEON Mall, there is a major locational advantage in being close to one of the north's largest payroll hubs, where Samsung employs more than 100,000 people.

Industry reaction

• The Bac Ninh Provincial People's Committee welcomed the entry of a foreign-invested commercial facility as a move that would accelerate the province's urbanization and the upgrading of its service industry.
• Real estate analysts point out that attracting large malls around industrial parks tends to trigger a chain reaction of rising land prices and housing development.
• Competing retailers face pressure from AEON's entry, which raises the bar for modern retail channels in Bac Ninh Province.

Implications for Japanese companies

About 130 Japanese companies have already entered Bac Ninh Province. AEON Mall's opening will be a plus for these companies on two fronts: improving expatriate staff's quality of life and strengthening their appeal for hiring local staff. For food and daily necessities manufacturers, becoming a tenant in the mall creates an option for securing direct access to the northern consumer market.

AEON Mall has invested a cumulative total of about USD 1.5 billion across Vietnam and has set a plan to triple the current number of malls and stores by 2030. For Japanese food manufacturers and service companies, AEON's store-opening roadmap has reference value as an infrastructure indicator for entering the Vietnamese market.

Industry Ripple Effects: A Race for Commercial Facilities in the Northern Industrial Belt

In addition to Bac Ninh Province, a competition to attract large commercial facilities continues in neighboring Hai Phong City and Quang Ninh Province. AEON Mall is already building a facility in Ha Long City (Quang Ninh Province) targeting a late-2026 opening. It is a large-scale project with an investment of VND 5.2 trillion (about JPY 31.2 billion) and a gross floor area of 208,000 square meters. A chain of commercial facilities is forming along northern Vietnam's industrial belt, and competition for tenant demand is beginning.

Practical Information

Conclusion

AEON Mall's entry into Bac Ninh Province is a strategic move to meet the living-infrastructure demand of an FDI hub. In northern Vietnam, a rush of large commercial facility openings will continue through 2026-2027 in Bac Ninh, Ha Long, and Thanh Hoa. For Japanese companies, becoming a tenant in these facilities or providing surrounding services could serve as a foothold for developing northern Vietnam's consumer market.

Related article: Samsung Electronics to build a 4 billion dollar semiconductor packaging plant in Vietnam

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Source: The Investor