Qualcomm has established a new artificial intelligence research and development center in Vietnam, marking a significant expansion of the company's global AI capabilities and deepening its two-decade presence in the Southeast Asian nation.
The new center, which was inaugurated on June 11 in Hanoi, will house teams of scientists, researchers, and AI specialists working across facilities in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. These teams will focus on advancing generative and agentic AI solutions for various applications including smartphones, personal computers, extended reality (XR), automotive technologies, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
This development comes just two months after Qualcomm's acquisition of MovianAI, the generative AI division of Vietnamese AI research company VinAI, which is part of the Vingroup conglomerate. As part of that acquisition, Dr. Bui Hai Hung, former CEO of VinAI and a Google DeepMind alumnus, joined Qualcomm to help lead its AI research strategy in Vietnam and contribute to the company's global AI direction.
Dr. An Mei Chen, Vice President of Engineering at Qualcomm, will lead the technical management of the new center. She emphasized that the facility will focus on technological innovation from fundamental research to platform development, while also promoting regional talent development and academic collaborations.
The establishment of this AI R&D center aligns with Vietnam's national strategies on artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and digital transformation. The country has set an ambitious goal to become one of Southeast Asia's top three nations for AI research and development by 2030, with its AI market projected to reach $1.52 billion by that year.
For Qualcomm, this represents its second R&D facility in Vietnam, following its first Southeast Asian research center opened in Hanoi in 2020, which focused on 5G technology and chipsets. The company has been operating in Vietnam since 2003 and also runs the Qualcomm Vietnam Innovation Challenge, a program supporting local startups through funding, technical guidance, and intellectual property assistance.