As global strategic-minerals supply chains are reshaped, competitive advantage is no longer defined by resource ownership alone. The ability to combine long-life resources with advanced processing capabilities and an international partner network is becoming increasingly important. Against this backdrop, Masan High-Tech Materials (UPCoM: MSR), a publicly traded Vietnamese strategic materials company, is expanding beyond its mining roots by connecting resources, processing capabilities and international partnerships across the global tungsten value chain.
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When Supply-Chain Capabilities Become a Strategic Advantage
Tungsten is increasingly viewed as a strategic material rather than simply an industrial metal. It is used across a range of advanced technology and industrial applications, including semiconductors, AI infrastructure, batteries, additive manufacturing and defense systems. While demand continues to expand, supply remains highly concentrated, with China accounting for approximately 82% of global tungsten production.
This concentration is changing how competitive advantage is assessed across the industry. Owning a large mine remains important, but it is no longer sufficient on its own. As global supply chains are reconfigured, the ability to connect resources with processing capabilities and end markets is becoming an increasingly important differentiator.
In Vietnam, MSR owns the Nui Phao polymetallic mine, one of the largest operating tungsten mines outside China. Alongside its mining operations, the Company has spent more than a decade building tungsten chemical processing capabilities through Masan Tungsten Chemicals (MTC), with annual capacity of approximately 9,345 tonnes.
This integrated system enables MSR to participate across the value chain, from mining and concentrate production to tungsten chemicals including ammonium paratungstate (APT), yellow tungsten oxide (YTO) and blue tungsten oxide (BTO), serving a range of industrial and technology applications globally.
The distinction, therefore, lies not only in the scale of MSR’s resources, but also in its ability to convert those resources into higher-value products.
Moving Beyond a Single Mine
A key development in MSR’s strategy is the expansion of its growth potential beyond current production from Nui Phao.
On the resource side, MSR is advancing the potential addition of approximately 115 million tonnes of polymetallic tungsten resources at the Nui Phao Expansion and Nui Chiem areas. Subject to completion of the necessary procedures, these resources could provide the basis for extending mining and processing operations by approximately 20–30 years.
On the processing side, MSR is expanding access to external feedstock to improve utilization of its installed processing capacity. This is strategically significant because the scale of the Company’s processing operations does not necessarily need to remain constrained by production from a single mine.
MSR’s long-term commercial partnership with South Korea’s GB Innovation (GBI) provides an example of how this model can scale. GBI owns tungsten resources in South Korea but has selected MSR as its processing partner in Vietnam. The partnership illustrates how MSR’s value proposition can extend beyond its own ore resources, through the processing of third-party feedstock into higher-value tungsten products. It also supports plans to increase tungsten oxide production capacity to more than 8,000 tonnes of WO₃ per year.
Taken together, these developments provide a clearer view of MSR’s longer-term strategy: expanding its domestic resource base while simultaneously broadening access to external feedstock and international partnerships. In doing so, the Company is progressively extending its growth potential beyond production from Nui Phao alone.
Alongside internally sourced resources and third-party feedstock, MSR is also pursuing recycling and circular-economy initiatives as part of its strategy to further diversify raw-material inputs. Over time, the ability to combine internally mined ore, external concentrates and secondary materials could allow the Company to utilize its installed processing capabilities more effectively.
From an Integrated Tungsten Business to a Global Strategic Materials Platform
The economic value of this integrated model is also beginning to become more visible in MSR’s financial performance.
In the first six months of 2026, the Company recorded VND2,202 billion in NPAT Pre-MI, a significant turnaround from a loss of VND216 billion in the same period a year earlier. Net Debt/EBITDA also declined to 2.1x at the end of the second quarter of 2026.
These results came against a supportive tungsten market backdrop, alongside improvements in operating performance and feedstock availability. They provide an early indication that resources and processing capabilities built over many years are increasingly translating into earnings and cash flow.
According to the Company, MSR today operates one of the largest integrated tungsten platforms outside China, accounting for approximately 21% of tungsten supply outside China. More than US$700 million has been invested in its mining and processing infrastructure.
The combination of long-life resources in Vietnam, more than a decade of investment in advanced processing capabilities, and increasingly diversified feedstock from international partners means that MSR’s value proposition is no longer determined solely by the production profile of a single mine. The Company can participate across more stages of the value chain and serve a market increasingly focused on supply security and diversification beyond China.
The potential addition of 115 million tonnes of resources provides greater visibility over the long-term life of the operation. Advanced processing capabilities create opportunities to capture more value from raw materials. Meanwhile, partnerships such as GBI illustrate how MSR’s processing capabilities in Vietnam can connect with resource owners internationally.
Together, these three pillars — resources, advanced processing and international partnerships — are expanding MSR beyond the traditional mining model and shaping a Vietnam-based strategic materials platform connected to global supply chains.
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Contact
An Nguyen, PR Manager
Masan Group
+84 28 6256 3862
[email protected]
