At the end of last year, Vietnam drew the attention of the tech world when Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, the world's largest chip manufacturer, signed a cooperation agreement with the Vietnamese government to build an AI research and development center and an AI data center in Vietnam.
Huang said he will make Vietnam "Nvidia's second home", and praised Vietnam's great potential, especially in high-tech human resources.
“I think it's because Vietnam has very challenging parents who has very high expectation on their children. As a result your young people are excellent in STEM. It’s also the reason why your software population and software experts are so big and so deep,” said Huang.
According to Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong, Nvidia’s plan to establish a base in Vietnam marks a turning point for Vietnam, which has made recent improvement in land, energy, and human resources to attract foreign investment to high tech.
Phuong noted that Vietnam is ready in terms of human resources, adding, “The Ministry of Planning and Investment has been tasked with training 50,000 engineers and skilled workers in high-tech and semiconductors. Participating in supply and production chains will improve Vietnam's global position.”
The Ministry says Vietnam’s FDI totaled 38.2 billion USD last year, making it one of the top 15 developing countries for FDI attraction. Disbursement reached an all-time high of 25.4 billion USD, up 9.4%.
Vietnam’s national brand value was 507 billion USD in 2024, ranking 32nd in the world, one place higher than the previous year.
Vietnam is attracting more and more large projects in semiconductors and production of batteries, photovoltaic cells, silicon bars, and electronics. Many projects to produce high-added-value items have received new or increased capital.
Dao Ngoc Tien, Vice President of Foreign Trade University, applauded Vietnam's strategy for attracting high-quality investment.
“Pursuant to Resolution 50 on FDI attraction in the new period, we aim to attract a great number of high-quality FDI projects by the top 500 multinational companies. We can only reach our target by being steadfast and setting high goals for stable, sustainable development,” said Tien.
Vu Quoc Huy, Director of the National Innovation Center (NIC), said FDI flows into Vietnam will be more selective, with priority given to high-tech projects, source technology, and creating spillovers to the domestic sector.
NIC has crafted strategies for human resource development and building a high-tech ecosystem, said Huy, adding, “We’re building a system of major partners, including domestic and international enterprises and corporations, investment funds, innovation support organizations, and state management agencies.”
“All will be connected to form an innovation ecosystem, creating effective cooperation and technologies to promote the commercialization of new products suitable for core areas and the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” the NIC leader concluded.
Economists say that, in addition to capital, foreign investment resources are taking Vietnam to a higher level in the global value chain.