Vietnam sets AI target: 6 percent of GDP by 2030

Vietnam has unveiled a draft national artificial intelligence strategy that sets a target for AI to account for around 6 percent of the country's GDP by 2030. The document, presented by the Ministry of Science and Technology, also sets targets for computing infrastructure, the number of trained specialists, and exports of AI-based solutions.

The draft strategy, now open for public consultation, is Vietnam's most comprehensive AI development plan to date. It envisions not just AI-driven economic growth but a full transformation of public administration, the education system, and the private sector over the next four years.

The numbers behind the ambition

According to the document, by 2030 Vietnam wants to have computing infrastructure of around 250,000 GPUs comparable in class to the H100, H200, or B200 chips. At the same time, the country plans to train 500,000 workers capable of operating AI tools, including 10,000 highly skilled specialists and 50,000 university graduates with AI application skills each year.

Exports of AI-based products, services, and solutions are expected to reach around $5 billion in value. Annual investment in AI, both public and private, is expected to account for 1 to 1.5 percent of national GDP, which, given Vietnam's current pace of economic growth, translates into several billion dollars in spending each year.

Public administration as testing ground

The strategy places particular emphasis on the public sector. By 2030, all civil servants are expected to use AI tools at least once a week, and 60 percent of administrative decisions are meant to be supported by AI data and models. Every ministry and administrative body is expected to implement its own AI transformation plan, and citizen satisfaction with AI-supported public services is meant to rise by at least 30 percent.

The government also wants to build a national platform coordinating AI computing resources, as well as a separate platform for evaluating Vietnamese-language models. The plan calls for at least five shared AI platforms, ten Vietnamese AI brands, and eight Vietnamese-language models across four different scales.

The strategy means moving beyond simply researching, developing, and applying AI, to driving a full, nationwide transformation through this technology - Nguyen Khac Lich, director of the Department of Digital Technology and AI, Vietnam's Ministry of Science and Technology

Regional ambitions

Vietnam wants to rank among the top three ASEAN countries in AI development by 2030, competing chiefly with Singapore and Malaysia, which have spent years investing in AI infrastructure and attracting investment from global tech firms. Looking ahead to 2045, the document sets an even more ambitious goal: making Vietnam one of Asia's and the world's leading AI innovation hubs, where artificial intelligence becomes, as the strategy puts it, the core operating layer of the state, the economy, and society.

The 6 percent GDP target fits into a broader plan to digitize Vietnam's economy, under which the country also aims for the entire digital economy to account for 30 percent of GDP by 2030. That means the AI sector is meant to become one of the main pillars of this transformation, alongside e-commerce, fintech, and the digitization of small and medium-sized enterprises.

A regional race

The announcement of Vietnam's strategy fits into a broader trend in which Southeast Asian countries are racing for the position of regional AI leader, hoping to attract infrastructure investment and talent that have so far bypassed tech hubs dominated by China and the United States. Despite having a smaller economy than Singapore or Indonesia, Vietnam is betting on scale: a large, young population, a growing electronics manufacturing sector, and increasingly strong ties to global semiconductor supply chains.

For Polish readers, the Vietnamese plan is above all a reference point in the debate over how to concretely measure AI's impact on the economy. Poland has not yet set a comparable, numerically defined target for AI's share of GDP, although the government has already passed a law implementing the EU AI Act and has stated ambitions to build a national AI gigafactory. Vietnam's model, which combines hard investment metrics with targets for citizens' digital skills, could become a benchmark for assessing the pace of AI adoption in Central Europe.

The draft strategy has now been opened for public consultation, and its final version is expected to be adopted by the Vietnamese government in the coming months. Delivering on such an ambitious plan, which involves simultaneously expanding computing infrastructure, training systems, and administrative digitization, will depend on how much of the promised investment actually materializes by the end of the decade.