Vietnam’s Cloud Aspirations
Vietnam has opted to cultivate its own cloud platform, enabling government entities to cease dependence on foreign-owned offerings. Prime Minister Le Minh Hung revealed the initiative last week in Decision 808/QD-TTg. The document outlines 20 strategic technologies Vietnam is eager to acquire, seeking technological self-reliance and equipping the government to address national issues. Developing a domestic cloud platform ranks as number 13 on the agenda.
The Grand Strategy
A brief machine translation of Decision 808 indicates the initiative aims to: “Guarantee national data sovereignty and cybersecurity for digital governance and critical digital economic infrastructures; establish a centralized, secure, and trustworthy digital and data framework to facilitate national digital transformation; gradually phase out foreign cloud services within government agencies, reducing the risk of data leaks and violations of state secrets.”
This initiative illustrates that Vietnam’s government, akin to many others, is somewhat cautious about entanglements with cloud providers that may find it challenging to evade directives from their home countries.
Hyperscalers in Vietnam
Nonetheless, prominent hyperscalers like Microsoft, Google, and Tencent Cloud have yet to establish a presence in Vietnam. AWS is introducing one of its lightweight Local Zones in Hanoi, Alibaba Cloud is in the midst of planning a datacenter, and Huawei Cloud has expressed interest in joining the initiative.
The Vietnamese government seeks to win over hyperscalers. Recently, the Deputy PM engaged in discussions with AWS officials and urged for enhanced collaboration. Meanwhile, any Vietnamese government workloads currently operating on a major hyperscaler are in violation of national regulations that mandate local storage of personal data! Oops.
Technological Aspirations
Other technologies Vietnam is eager to advance include a large-scale Vietnamese language model, virtual assistants, and AI to enhance applications such as cameras, credit risk assessment, and something akin to “a national smart education platform utilizing controlled AI.” Additionally, they’re pursuing next-generation firewalls, anti-malware applications, a next-gen SIEM system, and an “AI-integrated security operations center platform.” Quantum-resistant encryption is also on the list, along with a “user and entity behavior analysis system.”
Enhancing Capabilities
Rare earth processing is another ambition Vietnam is chasing, along with 5G proficiency, the ability to build and operate autonomous and industrial robots, and refining semiconductor design capabilities.
On a Tight Schedule
Vietnam is in a rush: Decision 808 established a deadline of 2030 for accomplishing all these goals. A Tuesday update on a government news site indicates that 2030 is also the year Hanoi anticipates having all essential government services online, with digital infrastructure ready to support outcomes such as “Ensuring social welfare and facilitating crime prevention and control, national security, and social order and safety” in addition to “Supporting scientific research and innovation.”
The Vision for 2035
By 2035, Vietnam intends to evolve into a developed digital nation where “National databases, with population data as the core, will be interconnected, shared, and effectively utilized to aid in developing a smart government, enabling data-driven decisions based on real-time information.” A smart government will ensure “Citizens will enjoy personalized, automated, and convenient digital services adapted to various life events.” What an exciting time to be alive, right?
Conclusion: When Clouds Go Local…
So, there it is: Vietnam has its sights set on the clouds, but this time, they’re homegrown. They’re moving away from foreign tech entanglements for some domestic affection, and who can fault them? With an extensive list of high-tech ambitions and a countdown in place, it’s full steam ahead for Vietnam. In the timeless words of that quirky fellow around the corner, “Gerrin there, son!”
