At the Ministerial Roundtable on AI Governance, held within the framework of Vietnam International Digital Week 2025 from October 27-29, Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung delivered a powerful message to representatives from the United Nations, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), ASEAN countries, and global tech giants: “Vietnam is ready to become the AI Competence Center of the Asia-Pacific region.”
The country’s commitment to AI is not new. Back in 2021, it approved its National Strategy on the Research, Development, and Application of Artificial Intelligence, setting a goal of joining the Top 4 ASEAN nations and Top 50 worldwide in the field by 2030. This vision was reinforced by Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW, issued on December 22, 2024, which raised the bar even higher, aiming to position Vietnam among Southeast Asia’s Top 3 in AI research and development by 2030.
Strategic technologies
Mr. Tran Anh Tu, Deputy Director General of the Authority of ICT Industry at the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), underscored that Vietnam sees science, technology, and innovation as the core drivers of its “Second ‘Doi Moi’” - a pivotal stage in breaking through the “middle-income trap” and realizing its ambition of becoming a high-income, developed nation.
According to Mr. Tu, mastering strategic core technologies is essential to this vision. Vietnam cannot depend on technology transfer alone if it aims to build genuine competitive advantages. A key milestone in this effort came with Decision No. 1131/QD-TTg, issued on June 12, 2025, which approved a list of eleven strategic technology groups - placing AI at the very top. The focus now is on developing four core AI products: a Vietnamese large language model (LLM), a virtual assistant, domain-specific AI, and analytical AI.
MoST has also adopted a bold action framework built on four strategic pillars: putting enterprises at the center; taking national major challenges as the driving force; viewing talent as key - with mechanisms that reward scientists for research outcomes; and building ecosystem strength through “triple helix” collaboration between government, academia, and business. “Our goal is clear: by 2027, Vietnam is to master at least 20 strategic technology products, with AI as the spearhead,” he emphasized.
Within this roadmap, the Vietnamese LLM is considered the foundation of the country’s AI ecosystem - designed to capture the linguistic, cultural, and intellectual nuances of Vietnam, rather than relying on imported technologies. By 2027, Vietnam plans to fine-tune open-source models such as Llama, Mistral, DeepSeek, and Qwen; build a national data corpus; and train models with up to 30 billion parameters. By 2030, this will expand to 100 billion parameters, integrating multimodal data including images, video, and audio - paving the way for a comprehensive AI model that bears a distinct “Vietnamese signature”.
Charting Vietnam’s AI ascent
Amid Vietnam’s strategic vision and decisive policy moves in AI, UNESCO has commended the country’s strong political will and dynamic approach to technological development. In its RAM (Readiness Assessment Methodology) Report, released on October 27, the body praised Vietnam’s top-level commitment and described it as a “dynamic and determined” country in the global AI landscape.
The report highlighted Vietnam’s remarkable progress in AI research over the past decade, with the country’s scientific output surging dramatically between 2018 and 2024. From just 134 AI-related papers in 2010, the number nearly quadrupled to over 520 per year by 2017-2018. By 2023, Vietnamese researchers were publishing more than 4,000 AI studies annually.
In global rankings, Vietnam placed 26th in 2022 for AI publications - a major leap from its fifth-place standing within ASEAN during 1996-2018. The country’s academic influence is also on the rise: in 2024, 60 Vietnamese scientists made it into the world’s Top 100,000 most-cited researchers, including nine in the global Top 10,000 - clear evidence of Vietnam’s growing credibility on the international AI map.
Yet UNESCO cautioned that research quality remains a key challenge. Vietnam must focus on producing higher-impact work and investing strategically in advanced AI talent, rather than simply expanding its research volume.
At the same time, private investment in AI startups is accelerating. Funding soared eight-fold, from $10 million in 2023 to $80 million in 2024, reflecting investor confidence in Vietnam’s AI potential.
Under Politburo Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW, Vietnam aims to lift research and development (R&D) investment to 2 per cent of GDP by 2030, with over 60 per cent sourced from private capital and at least 3 per cent of the State budget devoted to science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation. Notably, 15 per cent of science and technology spending will be directed towards AI, big data, and high-performance computing, signaling a clear commitment to technological self-reliance and global competitiveness.
Despite its reputation as a vibrant tech hub, Vietnam faces a shortage of high-level AI talent, especially in machine learning and natural language processing. The country currently has around 300 AI PhDs and post-doctoral researchers, 5,000 AI engineers, and roughly 7,000 AI specialists, far short of market demand. With only 28-30 per cent of students pursuing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) majors, the gap between talent supply and industry needs continues to widen. Vietnam therefore needs a comprehensive national strategy for reskilling, upskilling, and career support to prepare its workforce for an AI-driven economy.
UNESCO also urged Vietnam to address the environmental footprint of AI. The current National AI Strategy has yet to integrate sustainability goals, and the 2020 Law on Environmental Protection does not account for the energy-intensive nature of large data centers and AI model training. Incorporating “green AI” criteria into national planning, UNESCO noted, will be crucial for aligning Vietnam’s ambitions with the global push towards sustainable, energy-efficient AI development.
Minister Hung reaffirmed Vietnam’s readiness to serve as the AI Competence Center of the Asia-Pacific region, promoting research, training, and technology cooperation. He emphasized that it views AI governance as a platform for collaboration, trust-building, and sustainable growth towards a safe, humane, and creative digital future for all. His message before international delegates underscored Vietnam’s ambition to lead while embracing an inclusive vision: seeing AI not as a race but as a shared journey of knowledge and progress.
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