The Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) is currently drafting a Decree on the National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Development Fund to institutionalize provisions of the Law on Artificial Intelligence.
To be established by the Government, the Fund will operate as a non-profit, extra-budgetary state financial fund under the management of MoST.
Its financial resources will be derived from the State budget as well as legal contributions from domestic and foreign organizations and individuals.
The Fund’s primary activities will include investment, sponsorship, and support for AI development, spanning from research and development (R&D) to application and commercialization.
According to the draft, the Fund may provide grants (sponsorship) covering up to 70% of a project's total cost and offer support of up to 50%, depending on the project's nature and scale. In exceptional cases, the Prime Minister will determine the support level.
Regarding sponsorship activities, the draft prioritizes R&D tasks and the mastery of core technologies.
Specific areas of funding include the development of AI models, data and language processing, training and deployment technologies, hardware and semiconductors, computing technology, as well as safety and risk management tools. Notably, the draft emphasizes the development of open-source solutions and shared platforms to foster a domestic AI ecosystem.
The Fund is also authorized to invest in shared AI infrastructure, including computing capacity, data, platforms, and AI models. Significantly, these investment projects will not be subject to standard public investment laws; instead, they will follow a specialized mechanism to ensure flexibility. The State will maintain a level of risk tolerance for these activities, provided that implementation complies with the established regulations.
Regarding its financial scale, the Fund is proposed to have a total state budget allocation of VND30 trillion (approximately $1.18 billion). The initial allocation will be VND1 trillion ($38 million), with subsequent funding provided in stages based on the state budget capacity and the Fund's operational requirements.
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