NC sues VinFast to take over Chatham County site after company resists sale
In a lawsuit that signals the end of a once-celebrated collaboration, North Carolina has sued the Vietnamese electric vehicle company VinFast to acquire the company’s dormant site in southeast Chatham County.
State Attorney General Jeff Jackson filed the lawsuit Thursday in Wake County on behalf of the N.C. Department of Commerce after the company refused to sell the land. The state seeks to obtain the campus for $0 and claw back up to $80 million in public money VinFast has spent to prepare the site.
“VinFast agreed to build a factory and create jobs for North Carolinians,” Jackson wrote in a press release. “It didn’t do either.”
VinFast provided a statement to The News & Observer late Thursday, saying it would review the state’s lawsuit before providing an official response. But the company said it still plans to build on the Chatham County site.
“We have only become aware of the matter through public media reports and have not yet received any official documentation from the State of North Carolina,” the company stated.
In March 2022, North Carolina awarded the nascent EV maker an economic incentive to operate the state’s first major auto assembly plant, about 30 miles southwest of downtown Raleigh.
The details were eye-popping. VinFast committed to build a $4 billion, 7,500-worker battery and car facility on a 1,765-acre campus near the unincorporated community of Moncure. The state offered both performance-based incentives (to be realized only after hiring occurred) and millions of dollars to cover VinFast’s initial site preparation.
So far, VinFast has spent $80.1 million in state funds on the site, with additional money going towards improving surrounding roadwork and over $15 million for the nearby city of Sanford to improve its water and sewer systems.
VinFast fails to go vertical
To protect this upfront funding, North Carolina designed a special purchasing agreement that allows the state to buy all or part of the land if VinFast didn’t meet specific development deadlines.
One requirement was that the company start local manufacturing by July 1, which VinFast won’t accomplish. Another is that the company would have started vertical construction by January 2024. The carmaker has yet to construct any significant vertical structures on the Chatham County campus, which VinFast now says will open in 2028 — four years later than original projections.
“VinFast has failed to take any concrete action that shows it can and will fulfill its obligations to the State,” the state argued in its 191-page lawsuit. “VinFast abandoned work on the Site for over a year. Not only did the Company fail to create jobs — it made zero progress towards the construction of any buildings or structures.”
The state further questioned VinFast’s commitment to build in Chatham County by describing a list of events, including a non-working email address and the company’s failure to pay an annual air quality permit.
To avoid triggering the buyback agreement, VinFast must also create 1,750 jobs at the Moncure site by the end of this year.
VinFast has yet to gain a foothold in the North American market. Following poor reviews for its inaugural electric SUV, the company shifted resources toward its Asian production sites. VinFast reported delivering 3,800 vehicles to the U.S. in 2024 and declined to share updated figures with The N&O earlier this year.
“Today’s action is about protecting taxpayers and getting the Chatham County mega-site back on the market to support future good-paying manufacturing jobs,” Gov. Josh Stein wrote in the statement Thursday.
VinFast responds and rejects default claims
According to the lawsuit, North Carolina officials met with VinFast chairwoman Le Thi Thu Thuy and other company leaders on Dec. 11 to discuss steps for exercising the site buyback option.
“The state expressed interest in a collaborative approach and a willingness to coordinate with VinFast on any public statements surrounding the state’s purchase of the site,” the N.C. Department of Justice wrote. “VinFast rejected this offer and reiterated its plans to construct a facility on the site without explaining how it planned to have an operational facility by its deadline in six months, given that it had yet to erect a single building or structure on the site.”
In February, VinFast again denied the state’s assertion that it had defaulted on its development agreement, the lawsuit reads.
Thursday, the company blamed “recent changes in U.S. policies to the EV industry” for delaying its timeline, though North Carolina claims VinFast stalled its Chatham County operations in 2024 when President Joe Biden was still in office.
VinFast said the company continues to move forward with plans.
“Contracts with contractors have already been signed, and construction activities are expected to commence shortly in accordance with the planned schedule,” its statement read.
This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 4:58 PM.
