(Dec 5): Nvidia Corp’s founder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang signed a deal to open an artificial intelligence research and development centre in Vietnam as the company steps up its presence in Southeast Asia.

The project, along with a Viettel Group data centre that uses Nvidia technology, will help develop advanced AI in the country, Vietnam’s Investment Minister Nguyen Chi Dung said at a signing ceremony in Hanoi on Thursday. Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh was also in attendance.

“A country’s data should be considered its natural and national resource,” Huang said at a briefing with Dung. “Vietnam should process your own data and transform it into Vietnam AI for your industry and society.”

Before coming to Hanoi, Huang met with Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on Tuesday and agreed to strengthen cooperation with the country, including help in developing the country’s AI infrastructure.

The Nvidia chief executive officer’s regional tour comes as Southeast Asian countries compete for big tech investments to become data centre and AI hubs. Damac Group, backed by billionaire developer Hussain Sajwani, plans to invest about US$3 billion to build data centres in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand over the next three to five years.

“Nvidia’s support in the AI field will help Vietnam not only achieve its development goals in high-tech industry in general and AI ​​field in particular, but also contribute to boosting the entire Southeast Asia region to become a destination of innovation,” Dung said.

Last year, Huang told Chinh that Nvidia was eyeing a semiconductor center in Vietnam after investing about US$250 million in the nation. In April, the Vietnamese government said Nvidia was reviewing three Vietnam cities — Ho Chi Minh City, Danang and Hanoi — for an AI centre.

Vietnam is targeting annual revenue of more than US$100 billion from the semiconductor industry by 2050. The government aims to set up three big data centres and three AI centres by 2030, according to a national strategy released in 2021.

Uploaded by Magessan Varatharaja