Good morning! Hello to all new readers, and welcome to the latest free edition of the Vietnam Weekly, coming to you from soggy Ho Chi Minh City.
This is a shortened version of the more in-depth Friday post available to paying subscribers through this link. To access that for more insight and analysis, plus the mid-week subscriber-only articles, upgrade for US$8/month or US$80/year below. Group subscriptions are also available at a 20% discount per person.
If you want to support the newsletter without committing to a recurring subscription, you can also Buy Me A Coffee.
If a subscription isn’t financially feasible but you want access to the full Friday posts, reach out to me, and we can discuss it.
Moving Ahead on AI, Chips
Amidst the many high-level, future-focused government efforts underway, AI and semiconductors remain a focal point across the public and private sectors.
This week, Viettel signed an AI-related strategic memorandum of understanding with KT Corporation, South Korea’s third-largest telecommunications company.
According to Tuổi Trẻ, the two sides “will collaborate closely in developing and deploying digital technology platforms, AI ecosystems, and data infrastructure to support AI transformation....”
Provincial governments are getting in on the action with plans of their own.
This week, officials in Bình Định Province - home to Quy Nhơn - finalized a plan to train 7,500 workers across the semiconductor, AI, and cybersecurity sectors by 2030.
By 2030, Bắc Ninh, home to major tech manufacturers like Samsung, “wants to have trained at least 30,050 workers in the semiconductor industry” while becoming the leading hub for the sector in Vietnam.
And on the topic of cybersecurity, experts attending the Vietnam Security Summit 2025 in HCMC last week said the country needs over 700,000 (not a typo) experts in the field in the coming years.
Dueling HSR Proposals
The multi-sector industrial conglomerate Truong Hai Group (known as THACO) looked at Vingroup’s much-discussed high-speed rail proposal and decided to take its own shot.
This week, the company submitted a proposal to invest US$61.35 billion to build the line from Hanoi to HCMC, with about 20% - US$12.3 billion - coming from THACO, with the rest sourced “from domestic and international credit institutions, requesting the central government to guarantee the loans and subsidize interest rates for 30 years.”
If these numbers look familiar, Vingroup’s proposal (under its new VinSpeed subsidiary) pegged the cost at US$61 billion, while mobilizing 20% (US$12.27 billion) itself, with the remaining 80% coming in the form of a zero-interest government loan payable over 35 years.
While the top-level figures are similar, there are some key differences between the two plans.
THACO mentions financing from foreign and domestic banks, while VinSpeed (to my knowledge) only mentions government loans.
In terms of timing, THACO estimates seven years to complete the project, with two sections - Hanoi to Hà Tĩnh and HCMC to Nha Trang - finished in five years. VinSpeed claimed it would finish the entire 1,500-kilometer route in five years.
Both timelines, of course, are wildly ambitious, though THACO’s aligns more closely with the original official plans to build two segments first.
Back in February, PM Chính suggested that THACO and Hoa Phat, Vietnam’s largest steel company, get involved in the eventual HSR project. This is logical: the rail line will require huge amounts of steel, while THACO has subsidiaries across automobile manufacturing (for foreign brands including Kia and Mazda), mechanical/supporting industries, and logistics (among others).
Perhaps all three corporations will end up working together, but only time will tell.
Extra Links:
Why Vietnam Ignored Its Own Laws to Fast-Track a Trump Family Golf Complex (The New York Times)
The Strategic Calculations Behind To Lam’s Eurasian Tour (Fulcrum)
A Brief History of Hanoi Rock City, a Bastion of the Indie Spirit (Saigoneer)
Economic Anxiety, Nationalist Pride: How Vietnam Navigates the Trump Storm (Fulcrum)
Vietnam’s AI Ambitions Hinge on One $6.8 Billion Tech Company (Bloomberg - $)
Have a great weekend!
Mike Tatarski
