Vietnam sees strong wave of tech exports across ASEAN

Vietnamese tech firms and start-ups are increasingly embedding themselves into regional value chains, signaling a shift from ambition to tangible execution.

A simple experience by Mai Ngoc, an office worker in Ho Chi Minh City, during a shopping trip in Thailand, using a Vietnamese e-wallet for cashless payment, reflects a much larger picture: Vietnamese technology is now truly present and being used abroad.

Mobile wallet MoMo has expanded its acceptance network to more than 100 million payment points across over 60 countries on five continents.

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s cashless payment platform Zalopay enables Vietnamese users to make QR-based payments in five major Asian markets, including Singapore, Japan, China, South Korea, and Malaysia.

In China alone, its cross-border payment volume is estimated at around VND20 billion (US$760,000) per month.

In the software aspect, comprehensive human resource management platform Tanca, a product of a Vietnamese mobile app developer, now serves customers in around 15 countries, with strong traction in Singapore and Cambodia.

Founder and CEO Tran Viet Quan said the company pursues two main expansion channels, including direct sales through in-app purchases and distribution via global partner ecosystems such as Lark Suite, Bitrix24, and G2.

Looking ahead, he noted that artificial intelligence (AI) is helping companies localize products faster and at a lower cost compared to traditional methods.

He also addressed an emerging competitive gap in Southeast Asia’s SaaS (Software as a Service) market, where local players are still less dominant compared with U.S. and Chinese platforms, creating room for Vietnamese firms to compete on cost efficiency and regional understanding.

Vietnam’s leading tech conglomerates are also deepening their regional ties.

At the Vietnam-Thailand Business Forum in Bangkok and the Vietnam-Singapore Tech Connect Forum in Singapore, both held in late May, Vietnam's top tech firm FPT Corporation signed six strategic cooperation agreements on AI transformation and digitalization with major partners active in agriculture, food, manufacturing, banking, logistics, and energy under the witness of Party General Secretary and State President To Lam and top officials.

In Thailand, FPT is working with Charoen Pokphand Foods and SCG, while in Singapore, it has expanded cooperation with UOB, Sembcorp, and Singapore Airport Terminal Services.

In early June, Google Cloud announced an expanded collaboration with Vietnam’s National Innovation Center (NIC), the Startup & Innovation Hub of Ho Chi Minh City (SIHUB), Enterprise Singapore, and Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Komdigi).

The initiative is meant to build a regional innovation corridor connecting Southeast Asian start-ups with Silicon Valley’s AI ecosystem.

Marc Woo, managing director of Google Vietnam, said that Google for Startups programs have supported more than 500 Vietnamese start-ups in scaling commercially over the past four years.

Notable examples include Buymed, Reforged Labs, GIMO, and TopCV.

He emphasized that deeper cooperation with NIC and SIHUB would help many Vietnamese founders access a fully integrated AI ecosystem, thereby building, commercializing, and scaling pioneering solutions, while taking Vietnam’s AI talent and digital economy to an international level.

Nguyen The Vinh, CEO of tech company Ninety Eight, said Southeast Asia is a potential market, allowing Vietnamese start-ups to tap it, thanks to a young population, high digital adoption, and strong demand across technology-related fields.

The advantages of Vietnamese start-ups include strong technical capabilities, competitive development costs, and fast deployment capability, particularly in blockchain, fintech, logistics, agri-tech, healthtech, and edtech.

However, ASEAN is far from homogeneous as each country differs in consumer behavior, regulation, and willingness to pay, he said.

As a result, companies must choose some markets carefully, expand step by step, and work closely with local partners.

He also pointed out that while funding opportunities remain available, investors are becoming more selective.

Growth alone is no longer sufficient, as start-ups must demonstrate real revenue, healthy margins, scalability, and regulatory compliance.

National push toward global tech exports

The Vietnamese prime minister has approved a national program to support digital tech enterprises in expanding globally through 2030, with a vision toward 2045.

This is the first time Vietnam has set specific targets for the number of tech companies generating billion-dollar revenues from international markets.

Key targets include at least 5,000 Vietnamese digital tech firms generating international revenue, total export turnover reaching a minimum of $55 billion annually, and at least five companies achieving $1 billion in annual overseas revenue.

The plan also envisions dozens of major cross-border M&A and strategic partnerships, signaling a structured push to elevate Vietnam’s position in the global digital economy.

If achieved, these goals would place Vietnam among the region’s leading technology exporters.