Vingroup envisions a world class transformation

Nguyen Viet Quang, vice president and general director of Vingroup made this announcement Tuesday when signing a partnership deal with more than 50 universities in Hanoi.

Quang said that after 25 years of development, the group was qualified to enter the field of technology and industry.

Technology will bring us a major revenue stream, he said.

Vingroup will focus intensively on the technology sector with three major development directions - artificial intelligence (AI), comprehensive tech ecosystem and tech incubator.

The group is to establish VinTech company as a separate organization from the current VinSmart, which will work on AI, software production and generation of new materials.

It has already set up the Big Data Institute and the Vin Hi-Tech Institute of Advanced Technology.

For the tech ecosystem, it will build a VinTech City in Hanoi, modeled on the US’ Silicon Valley, a comprehensive ecosystem for IT startups with offices, restaurants, and associated support companies.

To build the tech incubator, the group is seeking cooperation opportunities.

In addition, VinTech will also establish a research and technology fund worth VND1 trillion ($44 million).

Vingroup’s cooperation with 50 leading universities in Vietnam is part of its tech push. It is committed to taking in 100,000 IT graduates over the next 10 years.

In the industrial segment, Vingroup will push up production of automobiles and smart appliances. It plans to launch its smartphones this year and export industrial products as soon as possible.

Vo Quang Hue, deputy general director of Vingroup, in charge of the VinFast Project to make top class cars in Vietnam, told a robotic technology-mechatronics seminar on Tuesday that the group would directly apply advantages of Industry 4.0.

Hue said the local automobile industry has not developed as expected because of small scale production and investment, so Vingroup was making big investments right at the very beginning.

They have chosen German technology, including the use of robots, for VinFast's factory, so as to ensure accuracy and flexibility, he said.

Hue said Vingroup has prepared for the transition period of the next 10 years. Accordingly, the service business will be part of the group, but not the most important part.

The group will focus on automobile, motorbike and smartphone industries and "many other products that I cannot reveal now,” he added.

Currently, the leading realty and retail developer in Vietnam is valued at VND338.3 trillion ($14.7 billion) and is the largest company on the stock market.

Vingroup chairman Pham Nhat Vuong is Vietnam’s first billionaire, ranked 237 in the list of world’s billionaires by Forbes with assets worth $6.8 billion.

The group’s share value has climbed over 37 per cent since the beginning of this year. The company is yet to release its second-quarter earnings. It posted after-tax profits of over VND1 trillion ($42.84 million) in the first three months of this year, a growth of 70 per cent against the same period last year