HANOI, Dec 11 (Reuters) – U.S. chipmaker Nvidia’s (NVDA.O) chief executive said on Monday the company will expand its partnership with Vietnam’s top tech firms and support the country in training talent for developing artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure.

Nvidia, which has already invested $250 million in Vietnam, has so far partnered with leading tech companies to deploy AI in the cloud, automotive and healthcare industries, a document published by the White House in September showed when Washington upgraded diplomatic relations with Vietnam.

“Vietnam is already our partner as we have millions of clients here,” Jensen Huang, Nvdia’s CEO said at an event in Hanoi in his first visit to the country.

“Vietnam and Nvidia will deepen our relations, with Viettel, FPT, Vingroup, VNG being the partners Nvidia looks to expand partnership with,” Huang said, adding Nvidia would support Vietnam’s artificial training and infrastructure.

Reuters reported last week Nvidia was set to discuss cooperation deals on semiconductors with Vietnamese tech companies and authorities in a meeting on Monday.

Just like India and Japan, Vietnam has benefited from the “China plus one” strategy with companies diversifying investments to help reduce their reliance on China.

The country expects to see a 6% to 6.5% GDP growth in 2024 on the back of robust imports and exports, as well as stronger manufacturing activity. 

The optimism in the Vietnamese market has also led to a more than 14% surge in foreign direct investments last year compared with 2022.

According to LSEG data, $29 billion in foreign direct investments were pledged to Vietnam from January to November last year. 

China accounts for half of the new FDI inflows into Vietnam this year, reflecting the attractiveness of the Southeast Asian nation as a rising manufacturing hub, Yun Liu, ASEAN economist at HSBC said.

Vietnam’s GDP grew by 6.72% yoy in Q4 of 2023, quickening from an upwardly revised 5.47% rise in Q3 and pointing to the 9th straight period of expansion, flash estimates showed. The latest figure was also the fastest economic output since Q3 of 2022, buoyed by a 7.29% growth in the service sector, which accounts for about 49.1% of the GDP. Additionally, construction and agriculture rose 7.35%, and 4.13%, each. Meantime, the Vietnamese central bank has trimmed its policy rates 4 times this year to spur credit demand, slashing its refinance and discount rates by a total of 150bps, each. For the full 2023, the economy expanded 5.05%, missing the government target of 6.5% for the year and falling below average growth of 5.87% in the prior decade, rattled by global headwinds, a stagnation in public investment, and an anti-graft crackdown by the government. For 2024, Hanoi targets the economy to grow between 6 to 6.5%, supported by exports as well as tourism and related services. source: General Statistics Office of Vietnam.

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