Vietnam's startup ecosystem remained robust in 2021, and foreign investments in the country are estimated to have reached US$20 billion last year despite COVID impacts.

During the VinFast Global EV Day at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2022), VinFast announced a new development strategy and revealed its complete electric vehicle lineup covering 5 segments.

Melaka (Malaysia) is set to receive an RM1 billion (approximately US$238 million) investment from Fieldman EV (the electronic vehicle arm of Fieldman Group) for the development of a plant to produce electric vehicles, according to Bernama.

Samsung and Vietnamese telecom operator Viettel are testing commercial 5G network in Da Nang city, Vietnam with the Korean firm providing latest baseband unit (BBU), 64T64R massive MIMO, and mid-band spectrum, according to Informa Tech. It's the first collaboration between the two firms.

Vietnam's smartphone coverage and household fiber-optic network coverage have been increasing, according to Vietnamese-language media Ictnews.

There is no sign of South Korean-based Simmtech Holdings (Simmtech) holding back on building its first large-scale factory in Southeast Asia despite the ongoing pandemic.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) taking effect on January 1, 2022 is likely to enhance regional trade of automotive components and products such as electric motors and batteries between Japan and China, and other partners including South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia, according to sources at IKKA Holdings.

Indonesia is building a green industrial park, while Vietnam is seeing hot demand for Apple products.

Singapore-based ride-sharing startup RushOwl announced that it has secured a funding of SG$650,000 (approximately US$479,970) on December 22 that was more than 3 times oversubscribed.

Vietnam-based VinFast held a ceremony on December 25 to release and distribute its first batch of VF e34 electric vehicles (EVs) to its customers at VinFast's manufacturing complex in Hai Phong.

After the country's lockdown was lifted in August, car factories and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have been boosting up their production and vehicle deliveries in fulfilling backlog and new orders, according to Bernama. Malaysia's automotive industry had shown a slack performance early this year due to market uncertainties brought by the Covid-19 pandemic and the unprecedented movement control order. The industry is now working at full throttle for its 4Q21 performance.

Singapore-based fintech and EV-IOT startup GEKO Life has announced it has acquired Singapore's first premium EV motorcycle brand, SWAG EV.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics (Semco) reportedly will set up a new ABF substrate plant in Vietnam mainly to provide dedicated capacity for Intel, with construction slated to kick off in 2023 at a total cost of US$850 million, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.

Southeast Asia's (SEA) first decacorn Grab slide more than 20% in its Nasdaq debut on December 2 following the company's record US$40 billion merger with a SPAC, Altimeter Growth Corporation.

Floods that hit multiple regions in Malaysia recently are expected to significantly undermine global chip supply on top of the existing shortages.