Accelerating Vietnam’s AI Ascent
Xem Tiếng Việt 
By: Phung Viet Thang, Country Manager, Sales, Marketing & Communications Group, Intel Vietnam
As organizations in Vietnam and around the world look to turn AI hype into reality, the technology has emerged from ‘latest tech fad’ to becoming a key part of Vietnam’s national agenda. Especially, according to Vietnam’s National Strategy for the Research, Development, and Application of Artificial Intelligence until 2030 by the country’s Government, Vietnam aims to be among the top 4 nations in ASEAN and the top 50 globally in AI research, development, and application.
According to the Report on the Government AI Readiness Index (2023) by Oxford Insights, the Vietnamese Government ranked 59th out of 193 countries globally and ranked ninth compared to other countries in the East Asia region in terms of artificial intelligence (AI) readiness. The ranking is based on the preparedness of governments to use AI to deliver public services to their citizens, including 39 indicators that measure governments’ digital capacity, technological capabilities, and data infrastructure. Vietnam’s ranking marked a jump of 19 places over 2022.
Yet, many organizations in Vietnam have realized that deploying AI is no easy undertaking. In recent years, many Vietnamese enterprises have begun integrating AI into their managements and operations to prepare for an AI-centric future, particularly in sectors such as manufacturing, banking, retail, healthcare, and eCommerce. However, according to a recent survey on AI Readiness, released in November 2023, only 27% of organisations in Vietnam are fully prepared to deploy and leverage AI-powered technologies. The significant gap between those using AI versus those excelling at it highlights the challenges in AI deployment.
The reasons are manifold, but there are two areas that stand out: Enterprises’ struggle with AI strategy and technology cost, as well as the macro-economic challenges in government regulations and AI talents.
On enterprises: AI is a means to an end, not an end in itself
In Vietnam, one of the top challenges to AI adoption is “unclear or lower-than-expected business outcome”. Since last year, AI has become a fad that many organizations dived into for fear of missing out, but without careful planning and consideration.
To start on the right foot, organizations must begin with the business challenge or outcome that they want to solve or achieve with AI as an ultimate technology, not by chasing the latest buzzword. What may benefit now may not be a Gen AI model, but by using interpretive or predictive AI to speed up business processes and arm employees with data-driven, highly reliable insights. Enterprises must understand that AI is a technology with a wide spectrum of methods and tools to achieve different goals, not the goal in itself.
This leads us to another top AI-related challenge – “cost of ownership too high to justify”. Since last year, there has been a rush towards obtaining more Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) to power AI, resulting in a global shortage and high investment cost for these processors. However, contrary to conventional belief that AI must use GPUs, the reality is that besides GPUs, there is a variety of AI chips including Central Processing Units (CPUs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), or Application-specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) that can be used for different AI use cases.
In fact, many common AI workloads can be done by CPUs efficiently without requiring additional GPUs, while the same CPUs can be used for simultaneous workloads like networking and storage – saving tremendous cost and energy consumption.
Another important trend to note is where data resides. While Vietnamese Government issued Decree 53/2022/ND-CP requiring that the relevant enterprise must store localized data on servers within Vietnam, by 2025, an estimated 75 percent of it will be created and processed outside of a local data centre or cloud, but on the edge (such as devices in factories and hospitals). This will require enterprises to manage data and compute where it makes the most sense, be it in the cloud, PC, or at the edge, to handle the different requirements of model training and inference as AI evolves and expands. Additionally, this shift will accelerate the adoption of AI PCs, as more AI workloads move to the edge, leveraging the enhanced processing capabilities of these devices for real-time data analysis and decision-making.
Enterprises need a technology foundation that is flexible and scalable – an integrated compute environment and open ecosystem that allows organizations to choose the right hardware and software tools for the right jobs, regardless of vendors, will be key to lowering costs and achieving better reliability, performance, and security.
On macro-economic challenges: Government regulations and AI talents
While enterprises are critical to driving AI adoption and innovation, Vietnam also relies on the needs of national economy to drive AI forward.
From a government perspective, the Vietnamese government has been proactive in developing AI policies and encouraging investments. Initiatives such as the National Strategy On Research, Development And Application Of Artificial Intelligence (AI) until 2030 for Vietnam have promoted research, development and application of AI across key sectors such as national defence and security, natural resources and environment management, and public services. By 2025, this strategy by the Government calls for the establishment of two national AI innovation centres, ten research and training institutions, and for AI to be “widely used in public administration, online public services to help reduce processing time, human resources, reduce the waiting time and costs of the public.” Besides Government supports, at the Vietnam Venture Summit 2020 (VVS), 33 investment funds attending have committed to pour US$815 million into innovation start-ups in Vietnam in the 2021-2025 period to nurture the nation’s AI competitiveness.
While Vietnam’s Government AI Readiness Index is higher than East Asia’s average of 51.41, it is important to remember that we are still, like other nations, in the early days of AI. Governments around the world are yet to figure out the best way to regulate AI, and the balancing act between safeguarding societal interests without stifling innovation is a delicate one. With so much still unknown, it is crucial to adopt a flexible approach based on fundamental AI ethics in transparency, accountability, and fairness. One way to complement this approach is to create AI regulatory sandboxes where organizations and corporations can experiment in controlled surroundings before the technology is applied at a large scale.
From a socio-economic perspective, a large and young talent pool gives Vietnam an edge in building a strong AI workforce. Yet, there is still a need to bridge academic knowledge and practical AI skills to help Vietnam truly gain a competitive foothold. According to the directions specified in the Vietnamese Government’s National Strategy On Research, Development And Application Of Artificial Intelligence (AI), in order to deploy basic skills in AI application and data science (DS) to promote innovation for young people, the country will focus in promoting the implementation of short-term and medium-term training courses on AI for students in different occupations and workers wishing to change careers.
In addition, the Government will also invest in building key centres for research and training talents and high-quality human resources in AI and DS at leading universities and research institutes. One area to also consider is to expand AI understanding in non-technical workforce. With the rise of low-code/no-code AI tools and copilots, the non-technical workforce’s understanding and adoption of AI will be pivotal in advancing Vietnam’s AI maturity as well.
Becoming an AI powerhouse
With its many advantages, Vietnam is well-poised to join the fast AI bandwagon in the years ahead. By enhancing product quality, streamlining operations, and improving customer engagement with AI, Vietnam can revolutionize how things are done in ways unimaginable in the past. With AI technologies available today and down the road, it will be an opportunity for Vietnam to grow its overall competitiveness as a nation.
Along with this significant AI growth, rising complexities can be expected. The types of AI will continue to evolve, and the approaches to AI will have to adapt and change. This means technology, government policies, and societal infrastructures that we build today need to be flexible and scalable as well.
As the next few years will be a defining period for countries to build out their AI foundation, how Vietnam invests in the AI capabilities of its people, ensuring AI is safe but regulations do not become a bottleneck, while building an open, heterogenous technology infrastructure will be pivotal for the country to turn AI enthusiasm into tangible results and become a leading player.
