Vietnam is positioning itself as a major player in the global AI market by completing AI legislation and updating its national AI strategy by year-end. Science and Technology Minister Nguyen Manh Hung declared this initiative as “not just a legal framework but a declaration of national vision,” emphasizing AI as the country’s intellectual infrastructure foundation.
Market Value and Strategic Positioning
The Vietnamese government is treating AI as essential infrastructure comparable to electricity, telecommunications, and internet services, signaling massive national investment. The National Technology Innovation Fund (NATIF) will allocate at least 40% of its budget to support AI applications while providing vouchers for SMEs to adopt Vietnamese AI solutions. With a population of 100 million young, dynamic, and tech-savvy citizens, Vietnam presents an optimal market environment for rapid AI product adoption and innovation.
The government plans to rapidly build a national AI supercomputing center and establish shared open AI datasets to pursue “AI-ization” faster than the country’s previous electrification efforts. The ambitious goal is to provide every Vietnamese citizen with a digital assistant, potentially doubling national intelligence while maintaining population stability.
Growth Strategy and Ecosystem Development
Vietnam’s AI development strategy is built on the philosophy of “and” rather than “either-or” thinking. This integrative approach encompasses global and local, collaboration and autonomy, Big Tech and startups, technology and application. The government identifies promoting AI applications across businesses, government agencies, and key sectors as the fastest pathway to developing Vietnamese AI enterprises.
The domestic market strategy positions Vietnam as a cradle for AI companies, recognizing that without applications there is no market, and without market, Vietnamese AI firms remain small-scale. Through increased government investment, the plan is to validate AI solutions in the domestic market before expanding globally, creating a sustainable growth trajectory for local AI enterprises.
Competitive Advantage and Differentiation Strategy
Vietnam’s competitive edge lies in Vietnamese data, local problem-solving capabilities, open-source AI, and most importantly, the creativity, flexibility, and adaptability of Vietnamese people and culture. The strategy recognizes the Fourth Industrial Revolution’s critical balance between Big Tech’s core technology ownership and local companies’ advantages in understanding contextual language, culture, and domain-specific data.
Under the principle that while technology can be global, data must be local, Vietnam focuses on developing specialized applications operating on Vietnamese AI infrastructure. The coexistence of global and national AI infrastructures, platforms, and applications creates a foundation for sustainable development opportunities particularly beneficial for developing nations.
Investment Outlook and Risk Management
Vietnam’s AI Manifesto encompasses six core principles: “Humane – Safe – Autonomous – Collaborative – Inclusive – and Sustainable.” The framework includes risk-based governance, transparency and accountability, human-centricity, domestic AI development promotion and self-reliance, AI-driven fast and sustainable growth, and digital sovereignty protection anchored in data, infrastructure, and AI technology.
Recognizing that AI’s power may surpass nuclear energy with equally profound risks, Vietnam adopts a philosophy that problems caused by AI can be solved using AI. This approach includes using AI for training AI talent and detecting ethical violations, establishing a wise management system where AI and its challenges coexist and evolve together, positioning Vietnam to capitalize on this historic opportunity for economic advancement and national competitiveness.
