Nvidia Group may build an AI centre in Ho Chi Minh City

"Currently, the city is assigning departments to find solutions to apply AI to administrative management, healthcare, education, urban management, and many other fields," Mai said.

Strier said Nvidia will establish a research team, bring equipment and move some production departments to Vietnam.

"This is a great opportunity that Ho Chi Minh City has created for us. We will soon determine a plan for our collaboration and develop specific steps for the group's presence here," said Strier. "However, the city needs to have more preferential policies for tech firms to create a foundation for an ecosystem of high-tech startups."

Phan Van Mai, Chairman, Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee (left), with Keith Strier, vice-president, Nvidia

"The group's research in the selection of Ho Chi Minh City as a strategic investment destination comes from the fact that the city has all the elements to develop and master the AI ​​industry," he added.

The city has about one million engineers in the IT industry that can almost immediately switch to AI and has a business ecosystem for IT and semiconductors with enough capacity to immediately enter this industry.

As for human resources, the city has an advantage with more than 100 universities located in the area, of which Ho Chi Minh City National University has enough capacity to train human resources for the AI ​​industry in the near future.

Since the 1990s, Ho Chi Minh City has had attractive policies for foreign investment compared to other cities and provinces across the country. With Resolution No.98/2023/QH15, the city has developed sufficient infrastructure, human resources, and institutions to become a reliable and effective destination for investors.

However, Strier recommended the city invest more in infrastructure, especially for cloud computing, a vital component in the AI industry.

"The required infrastructure for developing AI is becoming more complex and requires increasingly expensive investment, therefore, public-private cooperation is needed to accelerate the construction of data centres to ensure the costs of developing such a cutting-edge industry are shared as wide as possible," Strier said.

"I believe that with these new approaches and cooperation from the business sector, Ho Chi Minh City will become one of the top-five global AI cities," he added.

Leaders of Nvidia, one of the world’s top chip manufacturers, will visit Vietnam from April 22 to 26 to explore investment opportunities in the semiconductor industry.

IT firm FPT signed a comprehensive strategic partnership with an American technology corporation NVIDIA on April 23, aiming to offer a one-stop shop for AI and cloud products, GPU infrastructure, tech experts, and domain expertise for clients in Vietnam and FPT’s overseas markets.

Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung met with vice president of US tech firm Nvidia Keith Strier on April 22 to discuss Vietnam's semiconductor and AI ecosystem.