Hoang Nguyen Investment Joint Stock Company on April 20 got an investment certificate to manufacture biochips for medical diagnosis at Saigon Hi-Tech Park (SHTP) in HCMC’s District 9.

With an investment of nearly VND598 billion, or US$27.9 million, the investor will develop a facility producing biochips used to diagnose some diseases like tuberculosis, cancer, congenital deafness and thalassemia.

Hoang Nguyen will buy technology from the U.S.-based Capital Bio to turn out around 360,000 international-standard biochips a year. The company plans to launch the first products in 2017 for the domestic market in the initial stage and for export later.

The investor calculated the price of its biochips would be around 60% lower than that of imported products of the same type.

Hoang Nguyen has set up Biology and Medical Device Factory Co. Ltd. (BIMEDTECH) to execute the biochip project.

The SHTP authority described the 100% locally-invested project as a pioneering project in the biochip sector.

Last year, Saigon Semiconductor Technology Inc. (SSTI) was licensed to invest over US$257.5 million in the production of semiconductor integrated circuits (IC) at SHTP. The products made by this domestic company will be used in the telecom sector and exported to the United States.

In addition to the two domestic-invested projects, Saigon Industry Corporation (CNS) has plans to develop an IC manufacturing plant worth around US$300 million at SHTP. The project has not been licensed yet.

In mid-2012, the government of HCMC initiated an IC manufacturing development program with targets for posting total revenue of US$100-150 million in 2017, training around 2,000 engineers and technicians and incubating around 30 IC enterprises.

The program requires some VND7.506 trillion, inclusive of the project of CNS.