The Vietnam Artificial Intelligence Forum – AI360 2025 officially opened today in Hanoi under the theme "Building smart businesses and societies with AI," marking a significant step in the nation's strategy to harness AI as a core driver for innovation, enhanced competitiveness, and sustainable development.
Organized by the Vietnam Software and IT Services Association (VINASA) under the auspices of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the forum gathered 300 delegates, including governmental leaders, experts, research institutes, and technology enterprises, symbolizing the entire value chain of Vietnam's technology ecosystem from policy to practical deployment.
Director Nguyen Khac Lich of the Department of Information Technology Industry highlighted Vietnam's increasingly prominent global standing, citing the Global AI Readiness Index 2024 by Oxford Insights, which ranked the country 59th out of 193 nations and within the top five in ASEAN.
Furthermore, the World AI Index 2025 indicated Vietnam's 6th position globally, ranking third in public trust in AI and fifth in acceptance. This technological momentum is supported by a dramatic increase in investment, with capital flowing into domestic AI enterprises accelerating from US$10 million in 2023 to $80 million in 2024.
To sustain this momentum, the Government is perfecting the institutional framework, including updating the National Strategy on AI to 2030 and preparing a draft AI Law to ensure the technology is developed transparently, safely, and responsibly.
Concurrently, the Government plans to increase public spending on AI, dedicate a significant portion of the National Technology Innovation Fund to application support, and implement a public procurement mechanism that prioritizes domestic digital technology solutions. These measures are designed to strategically utilize the domestic market as a launching pad to nurture Vietnamese AI enterprises, facilitating their expansion into the regional and global arenas.
The forum's accompanying report confirmed that the Vietnamese AI market is among the fastest growing in the region, with an expected value of approximately $1.52 billion by 2030 and a stable growth rate of 20 percent annually.
Application indicators reveal clear acceleration, with an average of five more businesses beginning to apply AI every hour in 2024. While industries such as IT (31 percent), finance-banking (22 percent), and education (17 percent) are leading the trend, and demand is surging across key sectors like education, finance, industrial production, transportation, and healthcare, significant challenges remain. Foremost among these is the lack of high-quality human resources, cited by 45 percent of AI providers.
Furthermore, 23 percent of businesses encounter difficulties with data and computing infrastructure, while 30 percent express concern over the absence of clear legal corridors. Data quality is a widespread issue, as 50 percent of providers state their data is limited or inaccessible to set standards, and 51 percent of training facilities face obstacles due to poor-quality training data.
