On a planning board inside a tech firm in Hanoi’s Cau Giay district, colored sticky notes map out a dozen artificial‑intelligence ideas ranging from a customer‑service chatbot to an automated analytics platform.
But several have stalled and carry the same handwritten verdict: "On hold—short of staff."
Since the AI boom began in late 2022, the company has tried to "AI‑ify" its products and build tools for end users.
But expertise is in short supply.
"We’ve had to pause features because we don’t have enough engineers to implement them," its chief technology officer admits.
Vietnam’s AI workforce is expanding, but talent lags in terms of both numbers and scope of expertise.
In the 2025 Annual AI Report by the Institute of Information Technology at the Vietnam National University, Hanoi, based on a July–October 2025 survey of 100 organizations spanning AI vendors, training institutions and user companies, respondents named "human resources" as the single biggest obstacle to AI progress in the country.
Of AI providers, 45% cited a lack of high‑quality talent as their top barrier, nearly double the rate listing limitations in computing and data infrastructure (23%).
As one research‑lab head puts it: "A shortage of top talent has created a paradox in the AI job market, technology races ahead and people are catching up."
Bui Thanh Minh, deputy CEO of Misa, a software company that has been an early AI adopter and is helping develop a made-in Vietnam large language model, says: "We have plenty of ideas, but we’ve had to narrow our focus because we’re short-staffed."
Misa aims to shift more than 50 existing products to an ‘AI‑first’ model, embed AI across its apps, and build AI‑as‑a‑Service offerings.
The ambition is clear; however, even with more than 1,000 product staff currently employed, the main constraint is human capital.
The shortage of AI specialists is compromising timelines and strategy, Minh adds.
The market tells the same tale.
Job platform CareerViet says in 2025 demand for AI engineers across roles such as machine learning, natural‑language processing and computer vision has doubled from last year and is at 2.5 times 2023 levels.
Openings for manager‑level roles have surged five‑ to six‑fold, a sign that companies do not just need implementers but leaders who can set strategy and run large AI programs.
The gaps show up from research and model development to production operations, across various company sizes.
Nguyen Tho Chuong, CTO at startup AI Hay, says early‑stage firms need "full‑stack" AI talent: engineers with a product mindset who grasp model internals and can scale systems to millions of users within tight resource constraints.
Many engineers can build a demo. Building something that runs reliably at a large scale is a completely different beast, he said.
His team has maintained momentum by pairing seasoned hires with younger engineers, training them on the job.
Demand is spilling beyond tech.
CareerViet also reports rising interest in the banking, finance, e‑commerce, manufacturing, and education sectors, intensifying competition.
Employers are paying increasingly for AI skills: VND11–20 million (US$420–$760) a month for new graduates, 16–37 million for staff engineers, 25–38 million for team leads, and 40–60 million for managers.
Each AI posting attracts 600–1,000 views on average on CareerViet, evidence of both the field’s appeal and the fight for talent.
That shortage begins in the classroom.
Vietnam has a large cohort of information‑technology engineers, hundreds of thousands, by industry estimates, but AI specialists are a minority.
The overlap with traditional IT is significant, experts say, yet AI layers on heavier requirements in mathematics, data and machine‑learning methods.
According to Le Quang Minh, deputy director of VNU’s Institute of Information Technology, universities report three persistent hurdles in AI training: uneven foundations in math and programming, a lack of high‑quality datasets for experimentation and limited access to cutting‑edge research materials.
Besides, schools and industry lack close linkages, meaning many students practice on simulated projects rather than real ones, which dulls job‑readiness and leaves homegrown product ideas trailing global trends by three to five years.
Some universities are overhauling curriculums, adding more advanced‑math credits to strengthen fundamentals for AI development.
Companies are adapting too, retraining strong software engineers for AI roles, even if the process takes months and costs more.
Misa says it is running internal "reskilling" programs and tapping Vietnamese experts working at Adobe, AWS and Google to help tackle hard technical problems.
Other tech players are pairing in‑house training with university partnerships, placing junior engineers on live applied‑research projects to narrow the classroom‑to‑production gap.
The hiring demand remains steady, but the emphasis is shifting.
Bui Ngoc Quoc Hung, CEO of CareerViet, expects continued growth in AI recruitment with a focus on quality over quantity.
For him, two trends stand out: a pivot toward applied AI that directly solves business problems and AI literacy becoming a mandatory hiring criterion across sectors, including banking, retail, healthcare, and manufacturing.
"That’s a major opportunity for anyone looking to enter a very dynamic market."
Policy will matter as well.
VNU’s Minh recommends coherent national measures to spur AI research, development and deployment: joint research programs, research‑funding mechanisms, and regular technical exchanges.
He also calls for having rules and platforms to develop, share and use national, sectoral and local datasets, enabling companies to build AI products tailored to Vietnam.
"Training quality should be prioritized for both AI builders and workers who will apply AI in their daily jobs," he adds.
A report on Vietnam’s AI economy, published in April by the National Innovation Center and JICA, found the talent pipeline strengthening as the country invests in IT education.
As of 2023 there were 165 universities offering IT programs, and the number of graduates is rising by 4% annually, it said.
The country’s IT workforce is projected to grow to 530,000 by 2026, it said.
But, it noted, practical skills with AI tools and frameworks are still lacking due to limited industry partnerships and a shortage of specialized AI programs.
Nevertheless, Vietnam enjoys a key advantage: a long-standing national emphasis on mathematics education.
"Their solid foundation in mathematics, combined with broad AI coursework, provides Vietnamese students with a strong competitive advantage," the report stated.
Story by Luu Quy
