The Fierce AI Race: VNG’s Multi-Billion-Dollar Investment in the Next Big Game

SAIH is exclusively dedicated to lecturers, students, experts, and independent R&D teams, providing them with access to modern, synchronized infrastructure—including GPUs, datasets, cloud services, and standard lab equipment. Additionally, they receive on-site consultations from VNG and Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM) AI experts, accelerating the implementation and commercialization of their AI research applications.

Notably, SAIH became operational just six months after VNG and VNU-HCM signed a strategic MOU. Under this agreement, VNG will sponsor up to VND 25 billion for VNU-HCM’s R&D activities and collaborate to train 1,000 high-quality students over the next 3–5 years. Tens of billions in commitments are rapidly transforming into tangible projects and resources: On November 20th, the company donated 12 NVIDIA AI GPUs valued at VND 6 billion to three VNU-HCM schools, supporting on-site AI research and education.

Saigon AI Hub – Ho Chi Minh City’s first open AI research space

The Long-Distance Race

At SAIH, research teams are encouraged to tackle real-world socio-economic challenges, particularly in healthcare, education, transportation, and public services. Research focuses include large language models (LLMs), multimodal models (VLMs), AI agents, and industry-specific AI applications—all critical to Vietnam’s technological capabilities in the next 5–10 years.

Explaining VNG’s investment in SAIH, Mr. Le Hong Minh, Founder & Chairman of VNG, highlighted two major hurdles in AI research: models and resources. “With resources, VNG is committed to long-term investment in academic research capabilities. For models, we aim to leverage the speed and flexibility of both business and academia to drive research through initiatives like Saigon AI Hub.”

Mr. Minh added that SAIH’s goal is to become an open research community, with VNG serving solely as a supporter and partner. The company does not claim any intellectual property rights from the research outcomes. “The success of Saigon AI Hub will be measured by the growth of the R&D community and its ability to solve real-world challenges for businesses, the government, and users.”

Experts view SAIH as a “shared R&D investment” from a financial perspective. Companies like VNG are investing in the entire research ecosystem—including the R&D community, testing platforms, environments, and capabilities—to foster the AI market’s mid- to long-term growth.

VNG is not alone in this race. Vietnam is witnessing a surge in R&D investments from global tech giants like NVIDIA and Qualcomm, while leading universities such as Hanoi University of Science and Technology, VNU-Hanoi, VNU-HCM, and Da Nang University are establishing AI institutes and departments. The common thread is clear: AI cannot thrive sustainably without a robust foundation in core research capabilities.

Strategic Capabilities

Currently, SAIH is an early-stage pilot model. Its effectiveness will be evaluated over time through research outputs, product trials, and application scale. However, the private sector’s proactive investment in research spaces and R&D communities—rather than solely focusing on product development and financial metrics—signals a significant shift in mindset.

On a broader scale, such efforts in Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam are helping establish a new technological capability baseline. Businesses, universities, and researchers are no longer operating in silos but are increasingly interconnected within a unified national innovation ecosystem.

For VNG, investing tens of billions in research, talent, and infrastructure amid economic uncertainties is no small feat in the short term. Yet, in the long-term AI game, this is not merely a business investment but a vision and positioning strategy: Only by laying a strong foundation early can Vietnam seize greater opportunities when the market truly explodes.