The Tech Giant’s Deal with VinBrain Sparks Questions About Its Impact on Vietnam’s Tech Landscape

In Vietnam, Google Trends is typically filled with searches about football matches and lottery results, but earlier this month, it was dominated by something far different – Nvidia. The US$3.3 trillion chipmaker, driving the AI revolution, made headlines after CEO Jensen Huang visited Hanoi to finalise a highly anticipated deal.

During his visit, Huang shared a casual street beer with Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, marking the official announcement of Nvidia’s first-ever research and development (R&D) centre in the country. In addition, Nvidia confirmed the acquisition of VinBrain, an AI startup backed by Vingroup, although the terms of the deal remain undisclosed. This acquisition had been widely speculated in the months leading up to the announcement.

As the excitement around the deal begins to settle, attention now turns to Nvidia’s true motivations behind acquiring VinBrain and the potential long-term effects of this move on Vietnam’s burgeoning tech industry.