Netflix closes in on establishing Vietnam office

Global streaming giant Netflix is preparing to open an office in Vietnam to serve the tech-savvy market of 100 million people.

Vishal Sarin, vice president of Netflix Asia Pacific, visited Vietnam in December to study conditions for establishing a wholly foreign-owned company in the country. He met with Nguyen Van Doan, chief of the Ministry of Planning and Investment's (MPI) Office, in Hanoi on December 5 to discuss the establishment of the office.

Netflix completed an assessment in late 2022 that evaluated security and political risks of operating an office in Vietnam and the handling of user data and sensitive content, Reuters said on Friday, citing sources who declined to be named due to confidentiality clauses.

Netflix first arrived in Vietnam in 2016 and officially launched its Vietnamese version in October 2019. The giant and the Vietnam Association of Film Promotion and Development signed a memorandum of understanding in January 2022 to develop the film industry and the creative economy in Vietnam, as well as promote Vietnamese movies and culture.

Vietnam, with the fastest-growing middle class market in Southeast Asia, has become a key target for tech giants. The country’s digital economy, including fintech, e-commerce and online entertainment, is on track to grow to nearly $50 billion in total transactions per year by 2025, more than double last year's figure, according to a report by Google, Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, and Bain & Company.

In December, Google Malaysia’s managing director Marc Woo was appointed managing director of Google Vietnam, where the American tech giant does not have an office. Without such a physical presence, he works at the Google Asia Pacific office in Singapore.

Vietnam's government announced last August new rules on cybersecurity in Decree 53, which took effect on October 1. The decree applies in particular to tech giants like Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft, e-commerce sites, gaming platforms, telecoms networks, online payment platforms, and other enterprises with online customers.