Vietnam Briefing, a website owned by foreign direct investment consultancy Dezan Shira & Associates, said that NVIDIA, along with other technology giants in the world, have recently shown strong interest in the Vietnamese market when expanding to Southeast Asia.
NVIDIA's latest move in Vietnam "reflects the Vietnamese government's proactive technology development strategy and the country's enormous economic potential." Although the value was not disclosed, the deal "demonstrates the strong confidence of one of the world's leading AI companies in Vietnam's future as a regional technology hub."
In his remarks after the signing ceremony, the NVIDIA leader expressed his belief in “the prosperous future that artificial intelligence can bring to Vietnam”. He also praised Vietnam’s rich and vibrant AI startup ecosystem.
NVIDIA has been interested in investing in Vietnam for some time. When visiting Hanoi in late 2023, Mr. Jensen Huang said that NVIDIA is committed to investing in Vietnam and turning Vietnam into a “second home”. In particular, he plans to expand partnerships with leading Vietnamese technology companies and support Vietnam in training talent to develop digital infrastructure and AI.
The partnership between the Vietnamese government and the US semiconductor giant aims to promote technological breakthroughs while strengthening the country’s technology infrastructure and talent. NVIDIA continues to demonstrate its strong commitment to Vietnam through the acquisition of VinBrain, a subsidiary of Vingroup specializing in AI-integrated healthcare solutions.
The Indonesia Business Post reported that NVIDIA's research center in Vietnam will focus on AI software development, using Vietnam's abundant STEM engineering resources and local ecosystems such as industry, startups, universities and government agencies.
“We are excited to open the NVIDIA research and development center to accelerate Vietnam's AI journey,” said Mr. Jensen Huang.
Indonesia's news agency said that the country seems to be lagging behind Vietnam in attracting foreign investment. Economist Teuku Riefky - Institute for Economic and Social Research (LPEM UI), University of Indonesia - pointed out a number of major obstacles that make Indonesia lag behind in attracting foreign investment, especially in AI development. "Administrative procedures in Indonesia take much longer than in Vietnam. To start a business, Indonesia needs 11 types of documents, while in Vietnam there are only 8. Regarding taxes, investors in Indonesia are required to submit 26 tax documents, while Vietnam only has 6," he said.
He also noted that the quality of Indonesia's human resources is declining, currently lagging behind Vietnam "and this trend will continue in the next few years". "Vietnam is increasingly excelling in attracting investment, while Indonesia faces structural challenges that need to be addressed immediately," he added.
Oxford Insights’ AI Readiness Study – which assesses a government’s digital capabilities, technological capabilities, and data infrastructure – found that Vietnam now ranks 39th out of 139 countries, up 19 places from last year.
In Southeast Asia, Vietnam is among the top five countries with more than 5,000 engineers, 7,000 AI experts, and about 500 startups in the field.
