Bloomberg reported that NVIDIA founder and Chairman Jensen Huang has signed an agreement to open an AI Research and Development Center in Vietnam as the company increases its presence in Southeast Asia.
Before arriving in Hanoi, Mr. Jensen Huang met with Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on December 3 and agreed to strengthen cooperation with Thailand, including helping to develop the country's AI infrastructure.
The NVIDIA president’s Southeast Asia trip comes as countries in the region compete for major technology investments to become data and AI hubs. Billionaire Hussain Sajwani’s Damac Group plans to invest about $3 billion to build data centers in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand over the next three to five years.
Bloomberg pointed out that last year, Mr. Jensen Huang said that NVIDIA was interested in building a semiconductor center in Vietnam after investing about 250 million USD in Vietnam. In April this year, the Vietnamese government informed that NVIDIA was considering 3 cities: Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and Hanoi to build an AI center.
The US-based newspaper noted that Vietnam is aiming to achieve annual revenue of more than $100 billion from the semiconductor industry by 2050. The government aims to establish three big data centers and three AI centers by 2030, according to a national strategy announced in 2021.
Reuters also reported that NVIDIA and the Vietnamese government are jointly establishing an AI Research and Development Center and an AI Data Center in Vietnam. The agreement between NVIDIA and the Vietnamese government was signed in Hanoi on December 5.
Financial details related to AI Research and Development and the AI Data Center were not disclosed, according to Reuters.
The UK-based news agency quoted Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh as saying that AI will boost growth and Vietnam also wants to use AI to develop clean energy.
The news also stated that NVIDIA announced that it had acquired startup company VinBrain - a unit of Vingroup - but did not provide information about the value of the deal.
During a visit to Hanoi a year ago, NVIDIA President Jensen Huang said that NVIDIA wanted to expand partnerships with leading Vietnamese technology companies and support Vietnam in training talent to develop digital infrastructure and AI.
In April this year, Vietnamese technology company FPT said it planned to build a $200 million AI factory using NVIDIA graphics chips and software.
Earlier on the afternoon of December 5, when talking about the cooperation agreement between NVIDIA Corporation and Vietnam on research and development of artificial intelligence after two visits by Mr. Jensen Huang in 2023 and 2024, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said that the cooperation agreement with NVIDIA is of great significance to Vietnam, affirming Vietnam's potential and position in terms of research and development capabilities in high-tech fields, especially artificial intelligence (AI).
The agreement demonstrates the determination of the Vietnamese Government to "catch up, keep pace and surpass" in the field of AI - one of the technology industries with many breakthrough developments today.
In particular, building a world-class AI Research and Development (R&D) Center invested and operated by a leading technology corporation such as NVIDIA is extremely important and is a premise for developing the Vietnamese artificial intelligence ecosystem, thereby promoting R&D and deploying the application of advanced AI technologies.
