During his recent visit to the United States on September 21-26, General Secretary cum State President To Lam met with a number of leading technology corporations such as Google, Meta, etc. At the same time, he also asked the US to help Vietnam develop technology in the fields of artificial intelligence, biotechnology, etc.
According to the announcement of Microsoft, the corporation will invest in cloud services worth $1.7 billion in Indonesia, while Amazon revealed plans to invest $9 billion in Singapore, $5 billion in Thailand, and $6.2 billion in Malaysia, etc.
Most recently, on October 1, the “giant” Google announced a total investment of $3 billion in Malaysia and Thailand to build data centers. Notably, the decision was made after Google considered investing in Vietnam in August 2024.
At that time, information was shared on Vietnamese social networks that Google was considering building a large-scale data center in Saigon. That attracted the attention of domestic public opinion as well as international media.
But in the end, Google chose Malaysia and Thailand as two other Southeast Asian countries, making Vietnam to miss a major investment opportunity.
Google’s $2 billion investment in Malaysia alone will create 26,500 jobs and contribute more than $3 billion to Malaysia’s GDP by 2030. Similarly, investing $1 billion in Thailand will also create an average of about 14,000 jobs per year, from now until 2029.
Why did Google invest $3 billion in Malaysia and Thailand but ignore the Vietnamese market?
According to international investment experts, Vietnam has been at a disadvantage when competing with the two countries mentioned above due to limitations in various aspects including: human resource quality, infrastructure and government intervention in business operations.
However, the most important reason that caused Vietnam to miss out on Google’s project is the issue of political institutions. The one-party political system in Vietnam is completely different from the multi-party democratic political system in Malaysia and Thailand.
The two countries mentioned above have a system of separation of powers, opposition parties and the voice of the people is respected. These are necessary factors to ensure supervision and adjustment of power to ensure publicity and transparency.
Similarly, in April 2024, Apple CEO Tim Cook visited Vietnam with many good promises, but immediately after Tim Cook left Vietnam, Apple Corporation decided to invest in their factory in Indonesia.
In addition to the above reasons, the unstable energy and electricity factor, as well as Vietnam’s unstable internet infrastructure, the frequent occurrence of broken submarine cables and reduced international bandwidth, have greatly affected the operations of foreign technology enterprises.
Most recently, the United States has issued warnings to the Vietnamese government about its plan to assign China to lay submarine fiber optic cables, which will be a threat to network security and data security, is very dangerous, and is a major challenge in attracting investment in the high-tech sector.
Vietnam’s Cybersecurity Law has created a relatively large barrier, according to which the state has required technology companies, especially foreign enterprises, to store user data domestically.
At the same time, these enterprises are required to place servers and data centers in Vietnam. This is a human rights violation that Western businesses find hard to accept.
The Vietnamese government uses the excuse of ensuring national security, but it is something that technology companies find hard to accept, because of their need to operate independently. This makes them feel uncomfortable when deciding to invest in Vietnam.
Tra My – Thoibao.de
