Elon Musk’s SpaceX wants to invest $1.5 billion in the country in the near future, the Communist-run government of that country announced on Thursday.
TakeAway Points:
- The Communist-run government of Vietnam announced on Thursday that Elon Musk’s SpaceX intends to invest $1.5 billion there in the near future.
- The government did not clarify where SpaceX’s investment would be made or when details could be agreed.
- The Brazilian Supreme Court on Saturday asked Elon Musk-owned social platform X to present documents validating its new legal representative in the country, as the firm’s lawyers now say it will comply with court demands to be allowed to resume operations in Brazil.
SpaceX to invest in Vietnam
Months of talks on the offer of Starlink’s satellite internet connection and other communications services were put on hold at the end of 2023, sources familiar with the matter said earlier this year, although they resumed later.
“The Vietnamese government is considering the investment proposal of SpaceX,” a report on the government portal on Thursday quoted President To Lam as saying, asking the company to work closely on completing preparations for the investment.
The remark followed the leader’s meeting in New York with SpaceX government affairs official Tim Hughes, who said the company planned to invest $15 billion in Vietnam, a promising market for its satellite internet service, the report added.
The government did not clarify where SpaceX’s investment would be made or when details could be agreed.
With 100 million people, Vietnam is a large user base for U.S. internet companies such as Meta’s Facebook and Alphabet, but its ageing equipment can disrupt operations of key optic fibre undersea cables.
Large mountainous swathes also make internet services less reliable in Vietnam, which could also use satellite internet for tasks such as tighter patrolling in the disputed South China Sea where it is often at odds with China.
Investment plan
Thursday’s news follows a report this month on the government portal that cited Hughes as saying SpaceX aimed to provide Starlink services to the Southeast Asian nation, after the two sides had resumed talks.
At the time, Hughes, the company’s senior vice president for global business and government affairs, said SpaceX’s deployment of internet services in Vietnam aimed mainly to benefit education and disaster prevention efforts, state media reported.
Last year’s talks were stymied by questions about ownership of the company SpaceX would have to set up in Vietnam, which limits foreigners’ holdings in such firms to half, while SpaceX wanted at least a controlling stake, sources had said.
It is unclear whether this issue is still a hurdle.
Vietnam also requires data to be stored domestically, with strict controls on what is visible online.
Industry sources said SpaceX has suppliers in Vietnam, a major industrial hub home to large manufacturing operations of U.S. firms and their contractors.
Brazil court asks X for documents as the platform starts to comply with orders
The Brazilian Supreme Court on Saturday asked Elon Musk-owned social platform X to present documents validating its new legal representative in the country, as the firm’s lawyers now say it will comply with court demands to be allowed to resume operations in Brazil.
X was shut down in Brazil in late August after it did not comply with orders from the top court related to hate speech moderation on the social platform.
But in the last few days, X representatives have started to publicly vocalize intentions to address the court demands, even though the firm had previously said it would not meet them.
X lawyers said late on Friday that the platform had named a legal representative in Brazil, addressing a key demand imposed by the court.
In a Saturday decision, Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes gave five days for X to provide commercial registries and other documents proving that X formally signed Rachel de Oliveira Conceicao as its Brazil legal representative.
X shuts down office in Brazil
Brazilian law requires foreign companies to have a legal representative to operate in the country. The representative would assume the legal responsibilities for the firm locally.
X had a legal representative in Brazil until mid-August, when it decided to close its offices and fire its staff in the country.
The move followed a months-long dispute between Musk and Moraes over the firm’s non-compliance with court orders demanding the platform to take action against the spread of hate speech, which the billionaire denounced as censorship.
Besides the indication of a legal representative, Brazil’s top court also required X to block certain accounts investigated in a hate speech and misinformation probe, and to pay fines amounting over $3 million as conditions to lift the ban.
At first X had said it would not comply with the “illegal” orders, but now its lawyers say the platform will pay the fines it owes, and that it has also started to block the ordered accounts.
It was not immediately clear which were the accounts X has been ordered to block, as the probe is confidential.
Despite the ban, X became accessible to many users in Brazil on Wednesday for a limited period of time after an update to its communications network bypassed the court-ordered block.
