Outsourcing To Vietnam: Is Your Job Going To Hanoi?Outsourcing To Vietnam: Is Your Job Going To Hanoi?

For many Americans, the mention of Vietnam still conjures memories of a war in which U.S. troops suffered more than 50,000 casualties. Images of bloodied soldiers being frantically medevaced into waiting Huey helicopters and napalm igniting the jungles across Southeast Asia have become part of the national consciousness.

Fast-forward 30 years, and what has Vietnam become to America?The latest place to outsource hi-tech work. Next week, chipmaking giant Intel expects to gain approval for the construction of a $605 million assembly plant. Company chairman Craig Barrett is expected to attend a ceremony to mark the event in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. Like Bob Dylan wrote in 1964, the year Congress effectively kicked off the war with the passage of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the times they are a-changin'.