KBC's $2.1B AI Data Center in HCMC Faces Power Pricing Snag

Overview

HEPZA, the authority managing Ho Chi Minh City’s export processing and industrial zones, has asked city authorities to resolve an unresolved electricity pricing question for the $2.1 billion AI Factory data center in Cu Chi. The project is led by Kinh Bac Urban Development Corporation (KBC, HOSE) with Accelerated Infrastructure Capital and VietinBank. The unresolved rate treatment matters because power is the single largest operating cost for a 200MW data center campus, and the delay touches KBC’s flagship move beyond industrial real estate into digital infrastructure.

Key Facts

• The AI Factory project at Tan Phu Trung Industrial Park, Cu Chi, carries registered investment capital of USD 2.1 billion and received its investment registration certificate in July.
• The SGI-HCM Campus spans more than 12 hectares and is designed for 200MW of IT load and capacity to operate 100,000 GPUs.
• HEPZA warned that applying commercial electricity rates instead of industrial rates would significantly raise operating costs, affect the project’s financial plan, and delay groundbreaking.
• HEPZA proposed that the HCMC Department of Industry and Trade lead a review with HCMC Power Corporation, consulting the Ministry of Industry and Trade and EVN if the matter exceeds local authority.
• The project was previously scheduled to break ground on 29 August but that date was postponed; it is now targeted for the final quarter of the year.
• HCMC currently hosts 20 data centers with 9 more proposed, including projects at Tan Phu Trung, a G42 Group project, and developments in the High-Tech Park.
• HEPZA also asked the city to accelerate the Cai Mep Ha (lower) port complex and a logistics and industrial-urban services zone with proposed capital of VND 204,658 billion.

What Happened

At a 15 October conference on nine-month socioeconomic results and investment and demand-stimulus projects in Ho Chi Minh City, HEPZA said the lack of agreement on whether data centers should be billed at industrial or commercial power rates is hampering implementation of the AI Factory project. The authority asked the HCMC People’s Committee to assign the Department of Industry and Trade, working with HCMC Power Corporation, to review and guide the appropriate tariff, and to seek guidance from the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Vietnam Electricity (EVN) where the issue exceeds local jurisdiction.

The project is developed by Kinh Bac Urban Development Corporation with Accelerated Infrastructure Capital and VietinBank. Le Van Thang, Director of the HCMC Department of Science and Technology, said the city has attracted a series of foreign-invested AI data center projects since the start of 2026, several of very large scale. The filing does not disclose the expected tariff level or the cost differential between the two rate categories.

Market Context

KBC closed at VND 25,750 on 14 October 2026 on HOSE. The stock sits in the industrial real estate sector, where land leasing and utility arrangements with tenants are core to the earnings model, but the AI Factory pushes KBC into power-intensive digital infrastructure where electricity tariffs directly shape project economics. The news lands amid a broader Vietnamese push to attract data center and AI investment, with HCMC alone counting 20 operating data centers and 9 proposed projects, making power pricing policy a citywide rather than single-project question.

Strategic Significance

For long-term investors, the key question is whether KBC can convert industrial park land and tenant relationships into a recurring digital-infrastructure platform. A 200MW campus with 100,000 GPUs would be a materially different business from land leasing, with contracted capacity revenue and long-dated power costs. If regulators classify data centers under industrial rather than commercial tariffs, project returns improve and KBC’s first-mover position in Cu Chi becomes more defensible against competing AI campus proposals, including G42’s. If commercial rates prevail, the financial plan weakens and KBC’s ability to replicate the model across its land bank is constrained.

What to Watch

• A formal decision or guidance from the HCMC Department of Industry and Trade and HCMC Power Corporation on the applicable tariff.
• Any referral to the Ministry of Industry and Trade or EVN, which would signal a longer timeline.
• Confirmation of a revised groundbreaking date in the fourth quarter of 2026.
• KBC disclosures on project funding structure with Accelerated Infrastructure Capital and VietinBank.
• Whether HCMC issues a citywide data center power pricing framework covering the 9 proposed projects.