The Government News on October 8 quoted GenAI Fund, the leading innovative AI fund in Southeast Asia, as announcing the release of the "ASEAN GenAI Startup Report 2024", with Vietnam ranking second in the region in terms of GenAI startup growth, after Singapore.

The study provides insights into the rapidly growing innovative AI ecosystem in the ASEAN region by drawing on a database of 700 GenAI startups, a survey of 250 startups, and in-depth interviews with 25 prominent startups.

At the same time, the study highlights innovative startups and critical trends shaping the future of AI in Southeast Asia.

Of the 250 GenAI startups surveyed, Vietnam ranked second in the region with 27 percent of the companies, only behind Singapore at 44 percent.

Indonesia ranked third with 13 percent, followed by Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines, which had smaller proportions.

Just 21 months after OpenAI launched ChatGPT, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has quickly become mainstream, attracting significant investments. This has sparked an AI race across many industries.

In ASEAN, the influence of GenAI is increasingly evident, especially in Vietnam.

The country's rise is notable, fueled by abundant human resources, low operating costs and an increasing number of startups choosing Vietnam as a GenAI development hub.

Some startups are not headquartered in Vietnam but are building initial networks or establishing remote development teams in the country. Eklipse.gg is a prominent example.

That underscores Vietnam's growing reputation as a hub for high-quality, low-cost GenAI development, especially with access to a diverse talent pool.

These above strengths make Vietnam an increasingly popular choice for establishing development teams for many startups and the current focus of GenAI.

With its current development momentum, Vietnam is expected to increase GenAI startup rate to 35 per cent, narrowing the gap with Singapore.