Qualcomm eyes building its third largest R&D center in Vietnam

Qualcomm on Wednesday said the U.S. tech giant wants to build its third largest R&D center in Vietnam, specializing in AI.

Jilei Hou, senior vice president of engineering at Qualcomm Technologies, made the statement at a meeting with Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Chi Dung in Hanoi.

He said the group has explored the opportunities and wants to build an AI technology R&D center in the country. It will be the company's "third largest center" of such a kind, after the ones in India and Ireland.

In Vietnam, Qualcomm currently has representative offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The company established its first R&D center in Southeast Asia in 2020, located in Hanoi.

On April 1, Vingroup, a leading Vietnamese conglomerate, announced that it had sold its 65% stake in AI company MovianAI to Qualcomm, but the transfer price was not disclosed. On the same day, Qualcomm announced the acquisition on its website.

According to Jilei Hou, MovianAI brings together the best AI scientists and researchers in the world and possesses a very high-quality research lab.

Through the acquisition of MovianAI, Qualcomm demonstrates its strong commitment to contributing to AI R&D as well as nurturing AI talent in Vietnam, he said.

Qualcomm is a technology corporation headquartered in San Diego, California. The corporation, with a fabless manufacturing model, has strengths in 5G technology and is expanding its business into semiconductors and software and services for industries such as AI, automobiles, computers and the Internet of Things (IoT). As of April 16, its capitalization reached $150.13 billion.

At the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Dung said highly appreciates Qualcomm's activities, especially initiatives that contribute to promoting innovation in Vietnam.

"The group needs to have a specific strategy and plan to operate and develop MovianAI. From there, it should support Vietnamese experts, startups, and businesses to develop in the fields of AI and semiconductors, and connect to the global value chain," he noted.

The Deputy PM suggested that the group continue to expand its R&D activities in Vietnam, especially at the National Innovation Center in Hoa Lac High-Tech Park, to take advantage of the country's preferential policies in the fields of semiconductors and AI, contribute to the development of Vietnam's technology ecosystem, and support Vietnamese engineers to participate in the group's research activities.

He said that along with building an R&D center, there should be a separate program to train the young generation to access and master AI technology early.

"I expect Qualcomm's cooperation will support Vietnamese enterprises to 'grow up'," the Deputy Prime Minister noted, adding that Vietnam encourages cooperation in R&D, human resource training and support for Vietnamese enterprises to participate in the global value chain.

Qualcomm earned a revenue of $38.96 billion in fiscal year 2024 (ending September 29), including 12% from Vietnam, the second-highest portion among all nations.

According to Qualcomm’s annual report for fiscal year 2024, China (including Hong Kong) was the biggest market with 66% of Qualcomm revenue. Vietnam came second with 12%, equivalent to $4.7 billion. Other major markets were the United States with 3% and South Korea with 7%.