In the global race for artificial intelligence, computing infrastructure is considered the decisive “foundation”. At the AI4VN 2025 event, experts said that Vietnam is facing difficulties but at the same time, it also possesses many opportunities to break through.

Mr. Nguyen Hoang Hung, Director of Technology at Viettel AI, said that the world's leading technology corporations such as Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI have invested tens and hundreds of billions of USD to own millions of GPUs.

Nguyen Hoang Hung Viettel
Mr. Nguyen Hoang Hung, Director of Technology of Viettel AI, shared at the AI4VN event on the afternoon of September 26. Photo: Giang Huy

Training Meta’s Llama 3 model required 30.84 million GPU hours – an amount that, if done with a small domestic server cluster, could take up to… 55 years. This figure shows the huge gap between Vietnam and the world in terms of infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Mr. Le Hong Viet, General Directorof FPT Smart Cloud, pointed out that the size of Vietnam’s data center market is still small, not comparable to other countries in the region. Investment in AI is still modest, 56 times lower than the US and China, and even lower than Singapore.

The US dominates the global AI landscape with 40 AI models, with total private investment reaching $471 billion between 2013 and 2024. China follows closely with 15 high-quality models and leads in the number of patents, narrowing the gap in model quality.

In addition to the investment gap, Vietnam also faces challenges such as a shortage of high-quality human resources, inadequate spending on R&D, and a legal corridor for AI that is still in the process of being completed.

However, Vietnam also has some notable bright spots. A report by WIN (Worldwide Independent Network of Market Research) ranked Vietnam 6th out of 40 countries in terms of readiness for the AI ​​era. The domestic AI ecosystem is heating up rapidly with investment capital reaching 80 million USD in 2024, half a million technology workers and a high AI adoption rate (42% of the population, 65% of small and medium enterprises have used it).

Le Hong Viet FPT
Mr. Le Hong Viet, General Director of FPT Smart Cloud, proposed a strategy for Vietnam to break through in the global AI picture. Photo: Giang Huy

The government has set a goal of placing Vietnam in the Top 3 of Southeast Asia and Top 50 of the world in AI research by 2030. Domestic technology enterprises are proactively investing heavily with the view that “mastering AI infrastructure is not just a business story”.

For example, Viettel currently operates 15 data centers, invests in leading GPU systems such as Nvidia DGX SuperPOD, and builds a “Make in Vietnam” product ecosystem serving tens of millions of users.

Vietnamese businesses are also proactively applying AI Agents strongly to change the way they operate. According to the leader of FPT Smart Cloud, more than 1,500 AI Agents have helped automate 46% of the workload of the customer care center, increase revenue through telesales channels by 20% and process more than 400 million sets of documents each year with an accuracy of over 95%.

Mr. Le Hong Viet emphasized that Vietnam needs a strategy to “build sovereign AI” to not only catch up but also lead the ASEAN region. The proposed 2025-2030 roadmap includes three stages: preparing the foundation, expanding deployment and aiming to lead the region, focusing on four main pillars: people, digital infrastructure, products and ecosystem.

Experts agree that infrastructure difficulties are the driving force for Vietnam to find its own way: taking advantage of competitive costs, a large young technology workforce and proactive support from the State. If it persists with a methodical investment strategy, Vietnam can shorten the gap with the major powers and emerge as an emerging AI center in the region.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/dau-tu-cho-ai-cua-viet-nam-kem-my-trung-quoc-56-lan-2446452.html