Nvidia to open AI center in Vietnam amid Southeast Asia expansion – report

Nvidia’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) Founder and CEO Jensen Huang signed an agreement to open an AI research and development center in Vietnam, Bloomberg News reported.

At a signing ceremony in Hanoi, Vietnam’s Investment Minister Nguyen Chi Dung said that the project, with a Viettel Group data center that uses Nvidia technology, will help in developing advanced AI in the country, the report added.

Huang said that a country’s data should be considered its natural and national resource, adding that “Vietnam should process your own data and transform it into Vietnam AI for your industry and society.”

Huang’s visit comes following his trip to Thailand where he met Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on Tuesday and agreed to bolster cooperation with the nation, including help in developing the country’s AI infrastructure.

In 2023, Huang told Chinh that Nvidia was looking for a semiconductor center in Vietnam after investing about $250M in the country. In April, the Vietnamese government said Nvidia was reviewing three cities in the nation.

Southeast Asian countries are competing for big tech investments to be data center and AI hubs. Damac Group, backed by billionaire Hussain Sajwani, intends to invest around $3B to build data centers in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand over the next three to five years, the report noted.