Recently, the Institute of Information Technology under Viet Nam National University, Ha Noi, released the 2025 annual report on AI in Viet Nam. The report presents a comprehensive picture of AI development in Viet Nam and serves as a reliable reference for policymakers, the research community, businesses, and society.
Based on robust real-world evidence, the report provides key insights into the state of AI education, research, development, and deployment across several priority areas, including industry, healthcare, transport, finance and banking, and education. Among these, healthcare currently stands out as the leading field, both in academic research and in practical roll-out, particularly in diagnostic decision support, medical image processing, and healthcare data management. AI is playing an ever-greater role in healthcare in a humane and positive way.
However, expert studies also point to marked disparities in AI adoption across sectors and regions. Most AI applications remain at a pilot or localised scale and have yet to generate broad spillover effects across the economy. At present, AI development in Viet Nam faces several core challenges, including a shortage of high-quality talent, fragmented data and computing infrastructure, and weak links between research, training, and deployment. In addition, the legal framework for AI is still being finalised and remains problematic in several respects.
AI is transforming lives daily. National-level AI development policies can significantly shape how the economy and society evolve. Prof. Dr Tran Xuan Tu, Director of the Institute of Information Technology under Viet Nam National University, Ha Noi, proposes several recommendations for AI development in the near future, aiming to narrow the gap between policy and practical implementation — currently a major barrier.
The State should continue to play a central role in finalising the legal framework, developing data and computing infrastructure, and establishing financial support and innovation mechanisms, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Businesses should approach AI as a long-term strategy closely tied to digital transformation, rather than merely short-term technical solutions. Universities and research institutes need to view AI as a new knowledge infrastructure, helping to promote interdisciplinary research, improve workforce training, and strengthen national science and technology capacity.
Viet Nam still has substantial room to develop AI — especially specialised AI applications, solutions addressing real-world business and social challenges, as well as new approaches such as edge AI. If the country can leverage its strengths in market scale, data, and a young workforce, it can form AI ecosystems with a distinct identity and the ability to compete regionally and internationally.
