Southeast Asia Information Port News (www.dnyxxg.com) – On March 25th, at the 2026 Vietnam Economic Forum held in Hanoi, Vietnam, Nguyen Trung Chinh, Chairman and CEO of CMC Technology Group, delivered a speech on the theme of "Development Model Based on Technology, Innovation, and Digital Transformation." He proposed developing a data economy as a new growth engine for Vietnam and accelerating Vietnam's shift from a data economy mindset to an artificial intelligence economy, upgrading AI from an auxiliary tool to a core production infrastructure of the digital economy.
Nguyen Trung Chinh pointed out that Vietnam's past growth has long relied on labor force expansion, investment capital accumulation, export-driven growth, and deep integration into global trade. However, as Vietnam enters a higher stage of development, the limitations of the traditional model are becoming increasingly apparent: the advantage of low-cost labor is gradually weakening, capital utilization efficiency is difficult to further improve, and the focus of global competition has shifted to productivity, technology, and innovation.
Against this backdrop, Nguyen Trung Chinh proposed that Vietnam needs to cultivate new growth drivers: viewing data as a completely new factor of production and using artificial intelligence as a key tool to transform data into knowledge, products, services, and core competitiveness. He further elaborated on the three core mechanisms for achieving breakthroughs in the data-AI economy: first, comprehensively improving labor productivity; second, fostering emerging economic industries such as Data as a Service (DaaS) and Artificial Intelligence as a Service (AaaS); and third, driving the restructuring and upgrading of traditional industries such as manufacturing, finance, healthcare, logistics, and agriculture towards intelligence, precision, and efficiency.
Based on this, Nguyen Trung Chinh proposed constructing a national AI transformation strategic framework for Vietnam's transition to an AI economy, serving as an overall development roadmap. He emphasized that data is a necessary prerequisite for the development of the AI economy, while AI is the core carrier for realizing the leap in data value, driving the transformation of data into productivity, products, services, and national competitiveness. According to his disclosure, this strategic framework encompasses eight pillars, twelve core projects, and 50 strategic actions, aiming to contribute US$150 billion to US$250 billion in economic value to Vietnam by 2045.
In addition to industrial and strategic planning, Nguyen Trung Chinh emphasized that institutional improvement is a key guarantee: it is necessary to clarify the asset attributes of data as a factor of economic production, accelerate the construction of a legal framework in the fields of data and artificial intelligence, establish experimental mechanisms, and remove institutional obstacles for enterprises to deploy new digital and intelligent models.
During the forum, several Vietnamese experts and officials also shared their insights on the theme. Associate Professor Nguyen Duc Minh, Vice President of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, stated that technology, innovation, and digital transformation have become essential elements for the development of global economies, and placing them at the core of national strategy is of crucial strategic significance for choosing an appropriate development model. Nguyen Duc Hien, Deputy Minister of the Central Policy and Strategy Department, pointed out the need for a clear understanding of Vietnam's development model after 40 years of reform, clarifying the boundaries between national development, economic development, and growth models; he also emphasized that the integration of technology into various fields should be tailored to local conditions and implemented flexibly, using technology as a core driving force to improve the quality and efficiency of development. (End)
