Warburg Pincus wants to support Vietnam in building high-tech data center

Warburg Pincus, one of the world's biggest private equity funds, wants to support Vietnam in building a high-tech data center, in line with the country's strategic development orientation.

Jeffrey Perlman, CEO of Warburg Pincus and chairman of the US-ASEAN Business Council (USABC), made the statement at a meeting with Vietnam's President Luong Cuong in New York on Monday. He added that one of the areas that the fund has been focusing on is digital infrastructure.

President Cuong has been in a trip to attend the high-level General Debate of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 80) and engage in bilateral activities in the U.S. from September 21-24.

In response, Cuong said he highly appreciates the companionship and sustainable investment of Warburg Pincus, which demonstrates the fund's long-term commitment to the development of infrastructure, finance, trade, and healthcare in Vietnam.

He noted that he believes the fund will continue to play the role of a strategic investment partner, contributing to the sustainable development of Vietnam's economy.

According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, Vietnam currently has 41 commercial data centers belonging to 12 enterprises, with a total designed capacity of 221 MW. Many domestic technology corporations are also accelerating plans to build super data centers.

FPT Corporation on August 20 put into operation its FPT Fornix HCM02 Data Center in the Ho Chi Minh City-based Saigon High-Tech Park, which has the largest number of racks in Vietnam to date.

Up to now, FPT owns four large data centers, including FPT Fornix HN01 and FPT Fornix HN02 in Hanoi and FPT Fornix HCM01 and FPT Fornix HCM02 in HCMC. The four centers covers a total area of over 17,000 sqm and has a capacity of over 7,000 racks.

Another technology heavyweight, military-run Viettel, on August 19 broke ground on the An Khanh Data Center in Hanoi, with an investment of VND17.5 trillion ($664.9 million).

The center, located on a 1.9 hectare site in An Khanh commune, will offer a designed capacity of 60 MW, making it the largest data center in northern Vietnam. Phase 1 is set to go live in Q2/2026, with plans to expand it into Viettel’s second hyperscale data center by 2030.

On April 23, Viettel broke ground on a state-of-the-art data center in HCMC. The project set to become one of the largest in Southeast Asia and the first in Vietnam to have such a hyperscale capacity.

The High-Tech Data Center and R&D Complex will span nearly four hectares in the Tan Phu Trung Industrial Park in Cu Chi district and is designed with a total power capacity of up to 140 megawatts, housing approximately 10,000 server racks.

CMC plans to launch a large-scale project in HCMC in 2026.

Analysts believe that Vietnam has the potential to become a new destination for global data centers, replacing Singapore, thanks to its advantages in land prices, competitive labor costs, and the ability to supply abundant clean electricity – key factors in the trend of greening digital infrastructure.

Since 2013, Warburg Pincus had invested more than $2 billion in Vietnam, creating more than 40,000 jobs. Vietnam was the fund's third largest investment market in Asia, after China and India, the Vietnamese government's news portal reported in April when Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received CEO Jeffrey Perlman.

In Vietnam, notable projects with investments of Warburg Pincus include Vincom Retail, BW Industrial, Techcombank, MoMo, The Grand Ho Tram, and Xuyen A Hospital.

Warburg Pincus recently proposed building a VND17.3 trillion ($677 million) expressway connecting the under-construction Long Thanh International Airport in Dong Nai province with its Grand Ho Tram Strip, a group of integrated resorts and residential developments, in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, both in southern Vietnam.