Vietnam ranked 6th out of 10 ASEAN member countries and 55th globally in the 2022 Government AI Readiness Index, up seven places compared to 2021. The country’s average score reached 53.96 (up from 51.82 in 2021), surpassing the global average of 44.61.
The level of technology throughout East Asia is growing, and 9 East Asian countries have unicorn companies (companies worth over US$ 1 billion each). This is an increase from 2021 when East Asian countries had 6 unicorn companies. Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia all have additional companies that meet the above conditions. The region is in a good position for the development of the technology industry because of its young population with high digital skills and the ability to quickly adapt to digital solutions.
The Government AI Readiness Index assesses the AI readiness of governments from 181 countries in harnessing AI applications to operate and deliver their services. The index is used as a tool to compare the current state of government AI readiness in countries and regions across the globe to learn from useful experiences toward further development.
The Index splits the world into nine regions based on a combination of the UN and the World Bank regional groupings: North America; Latin America & the Caribbean; Western Europe; Eastern Europe; Sub-Saharan Africa; the Middle East & North Africa; South & Central Asia; and the Pacific. The USA led the index overall, but Singapore led in two of three pillars. Both the USA and Singapore were ahead of the other top-scoring countries, with a 5.58-point difference between Singapore and the United Kingdom, which came in third place.
While Western European countries make up half of the top 20, only the United Kingdom, Finland, France, and the Netherlands are in the top 10. Other top positions are taken by the leading East Asian countries, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, and Japan. Further, AI strategy work is dominated by middle-income countries.
In October, OpenGov Asia reported earlier that Vietnam’s information and communications technology (ICT) industry’s revenue was estimated at US$109.5 billion over the first nine months of 2022, a year-on-year increase of 13%. The revenue of the ICT industry in the third quarter of this year saw an increase of US$ 37 billion compared to the figure recorded in the first half of the year.
From January to September, the revenue of the electronics hardware industry reached US$97 billion, accounting for 90%. During the reviewed period, the nation earned US$90.7 billion from exporting electronics hardware products, up 13% against the same period last year. The export value of computers and spare parts touched US$ 43.1 billion, up 17.9%. The export of phones and accessories reached US$ 43.3 billion, up 5.6%.
The revenue of the information technology industry in the first half of this year attained US$ 72.5 billion, up 17.8%. The proportion of Make in Vietnam products in the ICT industry structure was estimated at 26.72%, worth around US$ 19.4 billion.
Meanwhile, the number of digital enterprises in Vietnam increased from 45,600 in 2019 to 68,800 by the end of September. The government expects to have 70,000 digital enterprises. Statistics from the Ministry of Information and Communications reveal that in 2021, Vietnam had 64,000 digital technology enterprises (a rise of 5,600 units compared to 2020) and introduced several new made-in-Vietnam ICT products. The revenues of the ICT industry last year reached US$ 136.2 billion, 13.8% of which belonged to Vietnamese companies (US$ 18.78 billion).
