PepsiCo invests $400 million to build 2 plants in Vietnam — a beverage plant in Long An Province plus a food processing plant in Ha Nam Province

U.S.-based PepsiCo will invest about $400 million (approximately 62 billion yen) to build two new plants in Vietnam. It will place a beverage plant worth more than $300 million (approximately 46.5 billion yen) in Long An Province and a $90 million (approximately 13.95 billion yen) food processing plant in Ha Nam Province, both designed to run on renewable energy. Joint venture partner Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam Beverage will handle operations.

The two-plant investment plan

The beverage plant in Tay Ninh Province (formerly Long An Province) involves an investment of more than $300 million, with an annual production capacity of about 800 million liters. It will produce purified water, milk-based beverages, and other drinks. Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam Beverage has already obtained an investment certificate from the Long An Province People's Committee in July 2023, and the plant is expected to be the company's largest in Asia.

The food processing plant in Ha Nam Province involves an investment of $90 million. It is located in the Dong Van I expansion industrial park in Duy Tien district, with a site area of 80,000 square meters. It will produce more than 23,000 tons of snacks per year, supplying both the Vietnamese domestic market and Cambodia. It obtained an investment certificate in December 2023, broke ground in early 2024, and construction is proceeding with completion targeted for the second half of 2025.

Background: 30 years of PepsiCo in Vietnam and expanded investment

PepsiCo entered Vietnam in 1994, starting production of Pepsi and 7 Up through a joint venture with IBC International Beverages Company. It now operates plants in five locations — Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai Province, Can Tho City, Bac Ninh Province, and Da Nang City (formerly Quang Nam Province) — covering both beverage and food businesses.

This latest roughly $400 million additional investment was announced at a meeting between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and a delegation of more than 60 U.S. companies. As the Vietnamese government accelerates FDI promotion, PepsiCo's large-scale investment is positioned as a symbolic case of U.S.-Vietnam economic relations.

Both plants are designed to run on renewable energy. PepsiCo is pursuing a global "pep+ (PepsiCo Positive)" strategy to transform sustainability across its entire value chain, and the new Vietnamese plants are a concrete implementation of that.

Overview of the investment

Local Reaction

Long An Province authorities expressed expectations that Suntory PepsiCo's beverage plant would become one of the province's largest FDI projects. As infrastructure development progresses in the southern Mekong Delta region, attracting a large-scale plant is expected to accelerate the clustering of surrounding industries.

An industrial park official in Ha Nam Province commented that PepsiCo's food processing plant will help raise occupancy at the Dong Van I expansion industrial park. The snack production line is expected to be highly automated, and there is a view that it will also contribute to developing local smart-factory talent.

Vietnam's beverage industry notes that the annual production capacity of 800 million liters could change the competitive structure of Vietnam's beverage market. Vietnam's soft drink market continues to expand on the back of its population of 100 million and a large young demographic, and PepsiCo's large-scale investment reflects strong confidence in its growth potential.

What this means for Japanese companies entering Vietnam

PepsiCo's $400 million investment carries three implications for Japanese food and beverage makers. First is the joint-venture model with Suntory. Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam Beverage is a joint venture between Suntory Holdings and PepsiCo, a good example of a Japanese company simultaneously leveraging a U.S. major's global brand power and Vietnam's manufacturing infrastructure.

Second is the "two bases north and south" strategy of Long An Province and Ha Nam Province. The north is close to the capital Hanoi and land routes to China, while the south connects directly to the Ho Chi Minh-Mekong Delta consumer market. Kyokuyo's seafood processing plant in Vietnam is also located in Ca Mau Province (south), and the concentration of food manufacturing bases in the south is accelerating.

Third is the standardization of renewable energy. The fact that PepsiCo's two plants are designed to run on renewable energy suggests that a "green factory" will become a precondition rather than a differentiator for food makers entering Vietnam going forward.

Ripple effects on the industry

Large-scale FDI into Vietnam's food and beverage sector is accelerating. HOYA's roughly 50 billion yen investment is in high-tech manufacturing, but PepsiCo's move means investment of a similar scale has begun entering consumer goods manufacturing too. Vietnam is expected to function both as a domestic market of more than 100 million people and as an ASEAN regional export base to Cambodia and Laos.

With PepsiCo's existing five plants joined by two more for a total of seven, Vietnam would become PepsiCo's largest production base in ASEAN. This move is likely to trigger additional investment from competitors such as Coca-Cola and Nestle. AEON Mall's simultaneous push of four facilities together with this, foreign interest in the Vietnamese consumer market has reached an all-time high.

Practical Information

Conclusion

PepsiCo's roughly $400 million, two-plant construction plan shows that foreign investment into Vietnam's food and beverage sector has entered a new phase. Behind the decision by a company that took more than 30 years since its 1994 entry to build a five-plant network, and is now adding two plants at once, lie the growth potential of Vietnam's 100-million-person market and its potential as an ASEAN regional export base. For Japanese companies, this is a case worth watching from three angles: the joint-venture model with Suntory, the north-south two-base strategy, and the standardization of renewable energy.

Source: Food Processing, Vietnam Investment Review