Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Dao Minh Tu provided further details on the direction, mechanism, and expected timeline of the preferential credit package worth VND500 trillion (about US$20 billion) to support businesses investing in infrastructure and digital technology, at the Government’s monthly regular press conference.

The number of digital technology companies in Vietnam has increased by 30% while the industry’s revenue has risen by 32% since 2019, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung said on December 11.

In order to obtain a high ratio of IoT (Internet of Things) device connection density to the population, Vietnam needs to make greater efforts with the cooperation of all technological firms.

A workshop promoting cooperation opportunities with Vietnamese technological firms was held in London on June 14, as part of the Vietnam-UK Friendship Year 2023 to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations.

In researching and applying AI, Vietnam is best at Vietnamese-speaking digital assistants. Vietnam’s firms also have advantages in image processing, and human and license plate recognition cameras, among others.

About 5,600 digital technology firms were established in 2021, raising the total number of such firms in Vietnam to around 64,000, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications.

In 2021, Vietnam recorded 5,600 newly-established digital technology businesses, stemming from the need to work, sell and communicate online in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vietnamese technology firm VNG is suing TikTok, the popular short-form video app, saying it does not have adequate licences for the songs being used in its videos.