The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has issued Plan No. 127/KH-UBND on promoting digital economy development in 2026. The plan aims to make science, technology, innovation, and especially digital data, a key growth engine that improves total factor productivity (TFP).
In 2026, the city aims to achieve breakthrough progress in both the scale and quality of digital economy development, targeting a contribution of at least 30 percent to GRDP, thereby strengthening its role as an economic core.
According to Ms. Vo Thi Trung Trinh, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Digital Transformation Center, data services could become a new driver of the urban digital economy if data is shifted from “storage” to “service,” enabling greater integration and sharing.
The city plans to develop a data exchange platform and a shared data warehouse to optimize resources in areas such as public services, smart logistics and an international financial center linked to digital assets.
Ho Chi Minh City has set out a clear roadmap. In 2026, the city will focus on standardizing and cleaning core data, followed by a pilot data exchange platform in 2027, regional data integration in 2028, and comprehensive smart governance by 2030, with the digital economy expected to account for around 40 percent of GRDP.
In parallel, the city is investing in fiber-optic networks and 5G/6G infrastructure, targeting over 95 percent 5G coverage. It also plans to develop regional data centers, high-performance computing facilities, digital twins and an AI-powered “smart mega port.” These are considered key infrastructure foundations for turning data into a strategic digital resource for economic growth.
However, experts note that high-quality foundational data remains limited, with existing datasets still fragmented and poorly standardized. As a result, the priority is not only technological investment but also stronger data governance. To turn data into a real development resource, controlled data-sharing mechanisms and standardized foundational datasets must be established and maintained as essential public infrastructure.
Data connectivity and governance
According to the National Data Association, Ho Chi Minh City’s data architecture framework is an important step toward building a secure, interconnected data ecosystem. Decision No. 1293/QD-UBND establishes a unified data architecture and governance framework to serve economic, social, and administrative digital transformation.
The issuance of digital architecture frameworks by Ho Chi Minh City and other localities is seen as an important step toward building a secure and interconnected data system. Decision No. 1293/QD-UBND dated March 5, 2026, on the city’s data architecture and data governance framework aims to establish a unified data platform to support governance and the development of the digital economy, digital society and digital government.
The framework is structured into seven layers, covering infrastructure, data sources, integration and sharing, storage, data use and applications, governance, and security compliance, while also encouraging data openness, standardization, and improved data practices across government agencies.
Officials from the Department of Science and Technology stressed that building a data-driven culture, together with cleaning, standardizing and integrating datasets, is essential for effective governance and analysis.
Major General Nguyen Ngoc Cuong, Director of the National Data Center and Vice Chairman of the National Data Association, said that data has moved beyond being a supporting tool to become a strategic resource and a new factor of production in the digital economy, crucial to national competitiveness and innovation capacity.
Major Dao Duc Trieu, Secretary-General of the National Data Association, noted that the new technological era has created new types of resources, with data now a strategic asset for the digital economy and national digital transformation, making stronger capabilities in data analysis, processing, and governance essential for all organizations, businesses and individuals.
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