Vietnam pegged as IT hotspot

With its cheap labour and a young workforce, Vietnam is set to see an upswing in digital investment- Photo: Le Toan

Truong Gia Binh, chairman of information technology giant FPT, said at the launch of the World Bank’s 2016 World Development Report last week that numerous foreign investment funds were eyeing Vietnam as a fertile land for the development of software and digital technology.

FPT recently signed co-operation deals with several partners in the US, South Korea, and Japan. In 2016, the group expects to do more of the same with foreign partners around the world.

Ivy Chang, deputy secretary general of Taiwan’s Information Service Industry Association, told VIR that the association was supporting Taiwan’s leading IT developers such as Chunghwa Telecom, Syscom, UPAS, Decision, IDGate, Xecure Lab, and Changing Information Technology to set up operations in Vietnam.

“We have been co-operating with Vietnam’s FPT and are seeking many other partners. We also want to co-operate with the Vietnamese government to build an effective e-government,” Chang said.

Nguyen Minh Cuong, sales representative for the US’ Honeywell Security Business, said his firm was providing IT solutions for Siemens, MV Corp, and CDC in Vietnam. In July 2014, Honeywell Security Business established a company in Vietnam, focusing on promoting made-in-US products in the country. The firm will invest more to expand the Vietnam company, and in order to reduce product prices, it will import products directly from the US into Vietnam, instead of through Singapore, as is currently the case.

Takashi Masumitsu, deputy manager of Internet Initiative Japan Inc.’s Global Business Development Office, told VIR that his firm, which provides cloud services, planned to open a branch in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. “We have already had branches in Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia. And now our priority is Vietnam. We are negotiating with many Vietnamese customers and have signed 10 memoranda of understanding with Vietnamese firms,” Masumitsu said.

According to Binh, Vietnam has vast potential in digital and software development. In Asia, the country has surpassed India, and ranks only after China and Japan in software development.

He also said that the US’ Progressive Policy Institute, which serves as a public policy think tank, ranked Vietnam as having the greatest potential in app development globally. Cushman & Wakefield also ranked the country as having the biggest potential in software outsourcing in the world.

“What’s behind such rankings? It is because Vietnam has millions of young people using personal computers and smartphones. On average, each person spends about 5.5 hours a day surfing the internet, three times higher than young people elsewhere in ASEAN,” Binh noted. “Vietnam also has many talented information technology engineers. For example, three years ago, a young engineer named Nguyen Ha Dong shocked the world with his Flappy Bird game, which earned him $50,000 a day.”

According to Binh, the cost of hiring professionals in Vietnam is 90 and 30 per cent less than hiring qualified IT experts in the US and India, respectively. Vietnam also has over 500,000 skilled software developers, while almost all people between 18 and 35 have unlimited access to the internet. This has led to a boom in over-the-top content apps on the internet in Vietnam over the past few years.