2024 marks FPT’s 25th anniversary of taking Vietnamese knowledge global, putting itself on the world’s digital technology map. With a remarkable achievement of $1 billion in IT service revenue from the international market, joining the global club of billion-dollar enterprises, FPT is now aiming for $5 billion in foreign revenue by 2030.
Going Global
Back in 1998, at the 10th-anniversary celebration of the FPT Group, Chairman Truong Gia Binh was disheartened to see only 30 members in the software division. “I want to see a thousand software engineers in front of me, and together, we will take Vietnamese intelligence to the world,” he told his colleagues.
Recognizing the need to emulate India’s successful model, on January 13, 1999, he and his colleagues established FPT Software, a unit dedicated to software exports, and chose Bangalore, India, as their gateway to the world.
At that time, FPT believed that India was the most vibrant market with numerous tech giants and potential clients. However, their venture did not go as planned. The high costs of hiring Indian programmers and office space became a burden, and the Bangalore office quietly closed after a year of operation. The dot-com crisis also forced the closure of their Silicon Valley office in early 2002.
Recalling those early struggles, FPT Software’s Chairwoman Chu Thi Thanh Ha referred to them as the days of charging straight into the “navel” of the global tech industry. The failures, though costly, taught the company an invaluable lesson: courage alone is not enough; a well-defined process, a strong quality management team, and world-class resources are also essential for success.
Learning from their experiences in India and the US, the FPT leadership decided to shift their globalization focus to Japan.
In December 2000, through the arrangement of the Sumitomo Corporation, Mr. Binh met with representatives of numerous large companies. Everywhere he went, he passionately spoke about “Digital Waterfall” in English, and although most of the clients didn’t understand, they felt his enthusiasm. This time, luck was on FPT’s side.
In November 2005, FPT Software Co., Ltd. Japan was established, with its headquarters in Tokyo and a representative office in Osaka. Today, FPT Japan is one of the largest Vietnamese IT companies in Japan, employing 3,500 people across 17 offices.
Following its success in Japan, FPT continued to expand, establishing offices and branches in 30 countries and territories, becoming the largest IT company in Southeast Asia and ranking among the top 50 in the Asia-Pacific region.
Hunting for “Whales”
To achieve the scale of revenue in the billions of dollars, like the top IT companies in the world, FPT set its sights on landing software contracts worth tens to hundreds of millions of dollars. In 2016, FPT started “whale hunting,” targeting clients with annual revenues of tens to hundreds of billions of dollars.
One of the perfect places to begin FPT’s “whale hunting” journey was the World Economic Forum (WEF). As a founding member of WEF since 2011, FPT and FPT Software’s leaders have attended the forum annually, turning it into an opportunity to collaborate with the world’s largest enterprises and promote Vietnam as a country undergoing a powerful digital transformation.
In 2020, following the group’s “whale hunting” trail, FPT Software adopted the Follow the Sun strategy. This strategy has expanded the company’s reach in developed countries, enabling them to engage and support potential clients, significantly contributing to FPT’s foreign IT service revenue.
FPT solidified its global standing through strategic partnerships with giants across various industries and M&A deals worldwide.
In 2023, FPT reached a remarkable milestone, surpassing $1 billion in IT service revenue from foreign markets and joining the exclusive club of global billion-dollar companies. In the first seven months of 2024, the volume of new orders from foreign markets reached VND 21,553 billion, a 23.8% increase year-on-year. FPT won 28 large projects worth over $5 million each, indicating the rising global demand for technology and affirming the corporation’s technology provisioning capabilities.
The 5 GIGA Goals
To ascend to an even higher position among the world’s billion-dollar enterprises, FPT has set its sights on achieving $5 billion in foreign revenue by 2030, along with the 5 GIGA goals: billion-dollar market, billion-dollar industry, billion-dollar contract, billion-dollar customer, and billion-dollar profit, affirmed by Mr. Pham Minh Tuan, FPT’s Deputy General Director and FPT Software’s CEO.
FPT continues to expand its presence in 30 countries and territories, ranking among the top 50 IT service companies in the Asia-Pacific region.
Reflecting on FPT Software’s 25-year journey, Ms. Chu Thi Thanh Ha shared that the company is now in its third 10-year cycle, boasting the status of a “world-class billion-dollar company.” FPT Software’s goal for this phase is to collaborate and thrive within sustainable international ecosystems, aiming to be among the Top 50 Global IT Services Companies by 2030.
Confident Vietnamese Businesses and Entrepreneurs: Embrace the “Once in a Millennium” Opportunity
The Vietnamese business community and entrepreneurs are currently facing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as stated by Mr. Pham Tan Cong, Chairman of VCCI, in an interview.
