At a working session with Vietnam's Minister of Science and Technology, Vu Hai Quan, Nvidia's Vice President for ASEAN, Vikram Rao, put forward four areas for deeper cooperation. The proposal covers building a Vietnamese-owned large language model, developing AI infrastructure and GPU capacity, training workers and backing start-ups, and linking Vietnam's AI ecosystem to regional and global markets.
Nvidia notes that Vietnam's AI ecosystem has grown considerably, with businesses, schools, and tech partners all taking part. The company is already working with local firms such as FPT, Viettel, and GreenNode, among others, to build out AI infrastructure.
A key point is Vietnam's current GPU count. Nvidia puts it at roughly 10,000-15,000 GPUs. For comparison, South Korea has about 50,000-60,000 GPUs and aims to reach 200,000-250,000 within five years. Nvidia suggests Vietnam draw up a national plan to boost AI computing capacity for government agencies, businesses, universities, and R&D.
On training, Nvidia wants to grow its Deep Learning Institute in Vietnam, scaling up nationwide and weaving it into other programs.
Nvidia calls Vietnam one of ASEAN's most dynamic start-up markets and says it wants to support Vietnamese AI start-ups. The two sides also talked about helping researchers, PhD students, and students join Nvidia's AI ecosystem. Nvidia proposes connecting Vietnam's AI ecosystem to the world, starting with a stronger presence in ASEAN before going global.
For logistics and import-export professionals in Vietnam, this is a signal of high-tech investment that could boost demand for shipping electronics, components, and data center gear. Expanding GPU and AI capacity often means importing specialized equipment, which could create work for air and sea freight.
But the announcement doesn't say when any of this will happen. Minister Quan has asked ministry units to work with Nvidia on turning the four areas into a joint action plan, with clear tasks, resources, and timelines. Nvidia's representative welcomed that and said the company is ready to build a plan with specific pillars, aiming for early results both sides can review.
Bottom line: Vietnam is attracting interest from major tech players, and that could ripple through supply chains and logistics demand in the near term.