Vietnam, a one-party socialist republic, is on track to become one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, next to Singapore and Indonesia. A conducive business ecosystem and political stability are reasons why investors flock to these countries which are now gaining a lot in terms of investment amid the US-China trade war.

Unfortunately, Malaysia is not gaining as much in this big economic shift from China.

Singapore

Singapore is said to be the least-corrupt country in Asia. Its political stability, strong legal framework and sound financial regulatory environment have drawn interest from both Western and Eastern investors over the years. The city-state is fast attracting investment from firms seeking new ground amid the US-China trade war.

Facebook is planning a US$1 billion purpose-built data centre in Singapore. Eleven stories high, it will be the tallest data centre in Southeast Asia when completed. The facility will be gradually fitted out in 30 MegaWatt increments up to its full capacity of 150MW.

Grab, which started as My Teksi in Malaysia, rebranded itself into Grab Taxi after moving to Singapore, leaving Malaysia behind possibly due to regulatory issues on raising funds from international venture capital.

Singapore’s advantage is that start-ups get government subsidies and tax breaks. More importantly, the well-developed ecosystem provides start-up funding that helps attract international financiers and bring higher valuations for public offerings. All this has made Grab into what it is today.

Singapore has vigorously encouraged innovation and entrepreneurship and has managed to create a resilient start-up ecosystem. It now has Garena, Lazada and Razer Inc as billion dollar start-ups.

The country has become home to many Chinese tech investments. Tencent of China has become the latest Asian tech giant to officially settle on Singapore as its new regional hub in the Asia-Pacific region. One of China’s largest internet companies as well as the region’s biggest gaming and eSports provider, Tencent joins domestic rivals Alibaba Group and ByteDance among others in setting up new global hubs in the city-state.

ByteDance has chosen Singapore as its new strategic location. The Beijing-based start-up is looking to invest several billion dollars and create hundreds of new jobs into Singapore’s economy over the next few years. Like ByteDance, Tencent is generating dozens of job openings in Singapore for businesses including cloud computing, eSports and cross-border commerce.

The country has emerged as a leading hub for data centre operations and management services. Businesses have clustered in Singapore for its status as one of the most connected cities in the world. Rakuten Mobile, the wireless networking subsidiary of Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten, has also established its new global headquarters in Singapore earlier this year.

Mobile internet penetration has made the 650 million-strong Southeast Asian region much more digital-savvy, and Singapore’s commercial and educational ecosystem to investors makes it an ideal country for large tech firms to grow their regional interests.

Alibaba, meanwhile, has already completed its procurement of the Singapore-based regional e-commerce icon Lazada for US$4 billion. Alibaba even purchased half of the US$1.2 billion AXA Tower in Singapore’s central business district – the company’s first international property acquisition that is intended to become the tech giant’s headquarters outside of China.

Tencent, ByteDance and Alibaba have joined a cluster of other Chinese start-ups who have been setting up businesses in Singapore over the years, making the city-state a prime choice for Chinese-owned tech companies.

Indonesia

Amazon plans to spend as much as US$951 million in Indonesia. The investment will be on introducing the company’s cloud computing service to the local market. With a population of more than a quarter of a billion people and with increasing internet and smartphone penetration, indisputably Indonesia represents a significant market for growth in both e-commerce and cloud computing.

Indonesia is luring billions of dollars in investment. It now has SpaceX to assess the possibility of setting up a rocket launch site in the country. This aerospace manufacturing and space transport venture is going to be a mutual investment opportunity for Indonesia and Tesla Inc.

Hyundai Motor is investing about US$1.55 billion in the Indonesia auto manufacturing plant within the next ten years, including product development and operation costs. Hyundai plans to make small sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs), as well as electric vehicles (EVs) designed for the Southeast Asian market. Production is scheduled to start in late 2021, with an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles and a plan to grow that to 250,000 vehicles a year.

Contemporary Amperex Technology, China’s largest producer of automobile battery packs, plans to build a US$5 billion plant in Indonesia to establish a strategic position in the world’s fourth-most populous nation as electric vehicles are gaining popularity.

The new Google Cloud Platform (GCP) region in Jakarta, their first GCP region in Indonesia and ninth in the Asia-Pacific, has started operations. Indonesia is fast becoming one of the most resourceful and entrepreneurial countries in Southeast Asia, and also one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

Vietnam

Despite it being a communist country, one can see global manufacturers flocking to Vietnam. This is because investors are assured of the country’s political stability. Vietnam’s low costs, investor-friendly policies, zero tolerance for corruption and state-backed efforts to promote tech start-ups also make the country appealing to investors. Foreign investors have committed billions of dollars in Vietnam and the present per capita income of the country in some zones has increased almost fivefold since the past decade.

Apple Inc has joined Samsung in consolidating Vietnam’s growing audio expertise in manufacturing its AirPod headphones as part of the company’s long-term expansion plans. Vietnam is becoming an audio manufacturing hub as firms move away from China for sales into the US market. This growth has also been driven by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam are politically stable, resourceful, the government is pro-business and they offer economic incentives for businesses.

Malaysia

Is Malaysia losing out to these countries? Creating a workforce with technology know-how, political maturity and stability, racial harmony, the rule of law, control of corruption and government effectiveness will help convince investors to also choose Malaysia as their investment hub.

Moaz Nair is an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.