China-affiliated AMC Robotics Corporation will invest US$3.5 million to build out and equip a new manufacturing facility in Vietnam’s Bac Ninh province, marking its first major production foothold in Southeast Asia as the region’s factories and warehouses gradually move towards automation.
The company said it has signed a lease agreement for a 6,150-square-metre facility in Bac Ninh, an industrial province near Hanoi that has become one of Vietnam’s most important electronics and manufacturing clusters.
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The investment will be used to prepare the plant for production, with the first phase focused on AMC Robotics’ NovaArm robotic arm. Initial production is expected to begin in the second half of 2026.
For AMC Robotics, the move shifts the company from product development towards manufacturing execution. For Vietnam, it adds another name to a growing list of technology and hardware companies using the country as a base to serve regional and global supply chains.
Vietnam as a Southeast Asia production base
AMC Robotics said Vietnam will serve as a long-term hub for its production and operations in Southeast Asia. That positioning is significant at a time when manufacturers are reassessing supply chains across Asia and looking for locations that offer proximity to China, competitive costs, improving infrastructure and access to regional markets.
Vietnam has been one of the main beneficiaries of the China-plus-one strategy, particularly in electronics, consumer devices and industrial components. Bac Ninh, in particular, has attracted global manufacturers because of its industrial parks, road links to Hanoi, and access to ports in northern Vietnam.
The robotics sector is still relatively early in Southeast Asia compared with China, Japan, South Korea, and the US. But demand is rising as warehouses, factories and logistics operators in the region face labour shortages, wage pressure, higher throughput requirements and the need for more predictable operations.
E-commerce, third-party logistics, electronics manufacturing, and automotive supply chains are among the sectors likely to drive automation adoption in Southeast Asia. Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore have all seen growing interest in robotics and industrial automation, although adoption levels vary sharply by market and sector.
AMC Robotics’s decision to manufacture in Vietnam suggests the company sees the region not only as a production base, but potentially as an end market for warehouse and industrial automation systems.
NovaArm comes first
In the first phase, the Bac Ninh facility will focus on the production of NovaArm, AMC Robotics’s robotic arm designed for high-load, high-precision warehouse sorting and industrial automation applications.
The company has not disclosed the planned production capacity of the facility, the expected number of jobs to be created, or whether the Vietnam plant will serve regional customers, global exports, or both. It also did not specify how much of the manufacturing process will be handled locally versus assembled from imported components.
The absence of those details makes it difficult to assess the immediate economic impact of the investment. Still, the choice of Vietnam is noteworthy because robotics manufacturing requires a more advanced supplier and engineering base than traditional assembly operations.
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If AMC Robotics scales production successfully, the plant could become a test of Vietnam’s ability to move further up the manufacturing value chain, from electronics assembly into more complex automation hardware.
Sean Da, Chairman and CEO of AMC Robotics, said securing the facility is an important step as the company moves from product development to manufacturing. He said the plant would provide the infrastructure needed to support the launch of NovaArm and establish a scalable foundation for future products, including Kyro.
Kyro robotic dog in the pipeline
AMC Robotics plans to use the Vietnam facility as a base for future expansion, including the production of Kyro, its quadruped robotic dog.
Quadruped robots have attracted interest globally for use in industrial inspection, security, hazardous environment monitoring and research. However, commercial adoption remains uneven, partly because of high costs, limited use cases and the need to prove reliability in real operating environments.
For Southeast Asia, the market for such robots is likely to develop gradually. Industrial campuses, energy facilities, construction sites, ports and large manufacturing plants could be early adopters, but price sensitivity and after-sales support will be critical.
By placing future Kyro production in Vietnam, AMC Robotics is signalling that it wants the facility to support more than a single product line. The company appears to be laying the groundwork for a broader hardware manufacturing operation in the region, although its success will depend on execution, supply chain depth and customer demand.
China links, US office, Vietnam factory
AMC Robotics maintains its executive office in the US, but the company is led by Sean Da, a Chinese national best known as the founder of YI, the Chinese camera brand.
YI previously had a strategic partnership with Xiaomi and received investment from the Chinese technology company. Da has said YI is not owned by Xiaomi.
That background is crucial because robotics, like drones, semiconductors and connected devices, increasingly sits at the intersection of technology, manufacturing and geopolitics. Companies with Chinese links are facing more scrutiny in some Western markets, while at the same time looking to diversify production footprints outside mainland China.
Vietnam has emerged as a natural destination for such diversification. It offers geographic proximity to Chinese suppliers while providing companies with an alternative manufacturing base. For firms serving global customers, a Vietnam footprint can also help reduce concentration risk in China.
However, China-affiliated companies operating from Vietnam may still face questions from customers, regulators and partners about ownership, supply chains and data handling, especially in sectors involving autonomous systems and connected devices.
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AMC Robotics has not disclosed whether its Vietnam plant will be used to serve the US market, Southeast Asia, or other regions. But its US executive presence, Chinese founder background and Vietnam manufacturing base reflect a broader shift in how hardware startups and robotics companies are structuring their operations in an increasingly fragmented global market.
Southeast Asia’s automation opportunity
For Southeast Asia, the AMC Robotics investment is modest in size but strategically relevant.
The region has spent years positioning itself as a manufacturing alternative to China. The next stage will be harder: attracting and retaining companies that bring higher-value production, engineering expertise and industrial technology capabilities.
Robotics manufacturing could contribute to that transition, but only if local ecosystems develop alongside foreign investment. This includes skilled technicians, precision component suppliers, software and systems integration talent, and customers willing to adopt automation at scale.
Singapore has been the region’s most advanced market for robotics deployment, particularly in logistics, healthcare and service automation. Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand have stronger manufacturing bases, while Indonesia and the Philippines offer large labour markets where automation adoption will be shaped by cost, productivity and policy considerations.
AMC Robotics’s Bac Ninh facility will not transform Southeast Asia’s robotics landscape on its own. But it adds to a pattern of hardware and automation companies treating the region as more than a low-cost assembly destination.
If NovaArm production begins as planned in 2026, the plant could become an early indicator of whether Vietnam can capture a larger share of the robotics manufacturing value chain, and whether Southeast Asia’s automation demand is strong enough to support the companies now setting up shop in the region.
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