Vietnam enters the race for “sovereign AI”

(Dan Tri) - “Sovereign AI” is considered a strategic step for Vietnam to become a center of innovation, promote growth and protect national interests in the digital age.

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes the focus of the world, infrastructure and core technology are still concentrated in the hands of a few American and Chinese corporations. In this context, the concept of “ sovereign AI” has emerged as a survival strategy – and Vietnam is no exception to this trend.

What is sovereign AI?

At NVIDIA AI Day 2025 held in Ho Chi Minh City - one of the four global venues of the event - leaders of major technology corporations and Vietnamese experts discussed building "sovereign AI".

Accordingly, instead of relying entirely on foreign infrastructure and data, a country needs to develop AI systems based on domestic data, local human resources and infrastructure under its control. This is the way to ensure cybersecurity, privacy and resilience to geopolitical fluctuations.

Mr. Pham Minh Tuan - CEOof FPT Software - believes that "sovereignty" is a key value, changing and affirming over the years. In the technology era, the concept of sovereignty has also been extended to the technology field. "Our mission is not only to develop the country, not only to protect independence in cyberspace, but also to ensure national security, people's privacy, and resilience to external influences," said Mr. Tuan.

VNG Chairman Le Hong Minh shared: “Sovereign AI must build real AI applications and business models with distinct values, in the context that Vietnam's investment capital is still very small compared to the world. Besides, we still lack a team of AI research experts and the accumulation of core technology platforms.”

According to this person, to solve these two problems, Vietnamese technology enterprises need to focus on developing and perfecting products and specific business opportunities. Users cannot be "forced" to use AI, but AI must be naturally integrated into the experience.

“AI today is like the Internet in 1995-1996: there are many doubts and uncertainties. Developers need to stay excited about the possibilities that technology brings, and not take AI for granted. Learn, boldly explore, try and fail, and stick to the revenue momentum from the beginning. Unlike Silicon Valley, where startups can raise capital even without a product, in Vietnam, you have to both explore and find a way to survive,” Mr. Le Hong Minh emphasized.

There will be laws on AI

Deputy Director of the National Innovation Center (NIC) Vo Xuan Hoai said that the biggest challenge in Vietnam revolves around products and policies (especially policies).

“Developing a pool of AI talent is the most important priority and needs to be implemented immediately and effectively with the goal of having more than 50,000 engineers in the coming years. At the same time, the Government needs to issue comprehensive support policies for businesses, startups and the human resources community, thereby forming an AI startup ecosystem within the next 5 years,” said Mr. Xuan Hoai.

Mr. Hoai informed that NIC is currently in the process of drafting a law on AI. But it is very difficult for businesses to comply, because AI technology changes every day. It is very difficult to know what is the “best” policy for AI. Mr. Xuan Hoai hopes that Vietnam will build a suitable policy to become an AI country.

Businesses offer ideas to build sovereign AI in Vietnam (Photo: NVIDIA AI Day Organizing Committee).

According to experts, promoting the development of artificial intelligence (AI) is identified as one of the key tasks of the Party and Government, demonstrated through the National Strategy on AI research, development and application to 2030, with the goal of making Vietnam a leading center for innovation and AI application deployment in the ASEAN region.

Recently, in Ho Chi Minh City, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Chi Dung led a Government delegation to attend a discussion with NVIDIA Corporation organized by the Ministry of Finance.

Concluding the working session, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Chi Dung welcomed NVIDIA's goodwill to cooperate in quickly implementing the agreement signed with the Vietnamese Government in December 2024.

In the context of the world witnessing a fierce AI “race” between the superpowers, Vietnam cannot stand aside, but needs to clearly identify priority areas to take immediate action. Accordingly, the Deputy Prime Minister asked NVIDIA Corporation to continue to accompany and support Vietnam in many important aspects.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/kinh-doanh/viet-nam-buoc-vao-cuoc-dua-ai-co-chu-quyen-20250924094612835.htm