On July 6, 2026, General Luong Tam Quang, Politburo Member and Minister of Public Security, received Yamato Holdings Chairman Nagao Yutaka at the Ministry in Hanoi. The minister formally invited Yamato to evaluate investment in warehousing and cargo transport infrastructure at Gia Binh International Airport, and indicated openness to operational partnership structures between Yamato and Vietnamese counterparts once the airport enters service.
Source: VnExpress
The minister also expressed explicit support for a separate initiative: Yamato's planned collaboration with FPT Group to establish an AI Laboratory in Vietnam. The lab would apply artificial intelligence and big data to supply chain management, transport coordination, and the development of specialized logistics capabilities - with semiconductor logistics named specifically as a priority application. The combination of airport infrastructure investment and AI-driven logistics technology development positions Yamato's potential Vietnam footprint as significantly more than a standard warehousing play.
No memorandum of understanding or capital commitment was disclosed at the meeting. The engagement nonetheless carries weight: a conversation at minister level, with a chairman of Yamato's standing, in which specific investment sites and technology collaboration frameworks were discussed, represents a relationship that has moved beyond initial contact.
Yamato Holdings is Japan's largest express delivery and logistics group, with over a century of operating history and annual revenues of approximately ¥2 trillion. Its Kuroneko TA-Q-BIN service is Japan's most widely used parcel delivery network, defined by precision timing, condition-specific handling, and dense last-mile coverage. Beyond domestic delivery, Yamato has been expanding into contract logistics, cold chain, and technology-integrated supply chain services — areas directly relevant to the high-value cargo flows that Gia Binh is designed to handle.
The FPT partnership adds a distinct dimension. FPT is Vietnam's largest technology company, with established capabilities in AI, data engineering, and enterprise software. A joint AI laboratory focused on supply chain optimization would give Yamato a local technology development base while providing FPT with applied use cases in one of Vietnam's most strategically significant industrial sectors.
Gia Binh International Airport is a $4.6 billion dual-use facility under construction in Bac Ninh Province, targeting operational launch in late 2026 ahead of Vietnam's hosting of APEC 2027. With designed capacity of 30 million passengers per year by 2030 and 50 million by 2050, it is positioned as the primary aviation gateway for the northern manufacturing corridor - not a domestic relief valve.
Source: Gia Binh International Airport
The airport's cargo function is its most strategically significant dimension for industrial investors. Northern Vietnam's manufacturing corridor - spanning Bac Ninh, Haiphong, Thai Nguyen, and Quang Ninh - produces high-value goods that require fast, condition-controlled air freight access. Samsung is completing a $1.5 billion chip testing plant in the corridor. LG Innotek is building a semiconductor substrate facility in Haiphong. TLB Vina is expanding PCB production capacity. Qualcomm operates an R&D center in Hanoi. Each of these operations generates cargo flows for which dedicated air logistics infrastructure, managed by an operator with the technical capability to handle high-value and temperature-sensitive freight, is a meaningful competitive advantage.
The Gia Binh cargo terminal - if developed with an operator of Yamato's caliber and supported by AI-driven logistics management - would close a gap that has persisted in northern Vietnam's supply chain infrastructure: reliable, high-capacity, technology-enabled air freight handling for the manufacturing cluster that has formed there. Whether Yamato commits capital or remains at the evaluation stage, the fact that this conversation is happening at minister level reflects how central air cargo logistics has become to Vietnam's broader industrial ambitions in the north.
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