Nvidia Partners with Vietnamese IT Firm FPT to Construct $200M AI Factory
US chipmaker Nvidia has partnered with Vietnamese IT company FPT to set up a $200 million artificial intelligence (AI) factory in Vietnam. The collaboration, announced on April 23, will lead to the creation of a hub for AI and cloud computing services in the Asian country.
The joint press release stated that FPT and the Nvidia AI factory will serve as a “sovereign cloud” that will focus on AI research and development using Nvidia’s latest technologies. These include Nvidia AI Enterprise software and frameworks and Nvidia H100 Tensor Core GPUs.
FPT and Nvidia AI Factory Pledge to Scale Vietnam’s AI Industry
The Nvidia AI factory will provide cloud GPU services to FPT’s corporate customers globally and grant them access to core resources designed to improve research capacity, scale AI applications, and achieve productivity and customer experience milestones.
Great news! FPT Corporation and @nvidia today entered a comprehensive strategic partnership to harness the power of #AI across sectors.
Read more: https://t.co/LFncYkP9w8 pic.twitter.com/Mb2hxF5kx2— FPT Software (@fpt_software) April 23, 2024
The goal of the partnership is to position Vietnam as an “AI hub of the world” while also speeding up the adoption of AI applications in neighboring countries like Japan and South Korea.
As part of the collaboration, FPT has joined the “NVIDIA Partner Network” as a Service Delivery Partner to become a Global Systems Integrator. This will allow the IT firm to leverage Nvidia’s advanced products and technologies to develop tailored cloud services, hardware, software, and, notably, generative AI solutions.
During the signing ceremony, Dr. Truong Gia Binh, FPT Corporation Chairman and Founder, expressed excitement about the partnership.
“FPT is committed to Digital transformation, AI, Cloud, and Education,” he said. “FPT strives to enhance our R&D competence and establish a comprehensive platform for state-of-the-art products and services built on AI and Cloud that exceeds global demands, working to achieve its vision to turn Vietnam into an AI hub of the world through collaboration with NVIDIA in technology, business development, and training.”
Nvidia Vice President of Worldwide AI Initiative Keith Strier commented on AI’s potential to improve lives and strengthen economies across various sectors, including healthcare, agriculture, climate, and manufacturing.
He noted that the FPT and Nvidia partnership will empower organizations across Vietnam to drive transformation and help the country become a leader in AI technology.
AI Industry Secures Attract More Investments From Big Tech Firms
FPT and Nvidia’s AI partnership follows other Big tech firms’ multi-billion-dollar investments in the AI industry worldwide.
For example, on April 16, software giant Microsoft invested $1.5 billion into G42, an AI-based company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The collaboration allows G42 to utilize Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform to power its AI services and applications, which will improve the safety and security of its infrastructure.
.@Microsoft's investment in @G42ai will enhance the UAE’s position as a leading #AI hub and provide digital infrastructure and services to help underserved nations innovate and grow. We will combine world-class technology with world-leading standards for safe, trusted, and…
— Brad Smith (@BradSmi) April 16, 2024
Microsoft also invested 3.2 billion euros ($3.44 billion) recently to boost AI industry infrastructure in Germany for the next two years, which was followed by a $2.1 billion pledge in AI infrastructure developments in Spain to improve “local capacity for the technology.”
Meanwhile, Amazon has invested $4 billion into ChatGPT’s rival AI startup, Anthropic.
According to recent Statista data, the AI sector is projected to be worth $184 billion before the end of 2024 and $826 billion by 2030.
These projections, alongside the success of OpenAI’s GPT models, continue to drive many investments from Microsoft and other tech firms as they battle to become industry-leading AI innovation (and income) hubs.