From Southeast Asia’s rising tech hub to global innovation powerhouse, Vietnam is redefining the way industries adopt AI — and Hitachi Digital Services is leading the charge.
Beyond Industry 4.0: The Dawn of an AI-First Economy
We recently had the opportunity to attend the Hitachi Digital Services Analyst & Advisor Connect event in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The sessions provided a first-hand look at how Hitachi Digital Services is positioning Vietnam at the center of its AI-first strategy.
One of the most compelling moments was hearing Quynh Ba Nguyen, Hitachi Digital Services APAC Japan Market and VDC lead, articulate the shift from Industry 4.0 to the new frontier of agentic AI. He noted, “Industry 4.0 is long gone and AI is the disruptive force globally now.” That message set the tone for the event and aligned with broader industry consensus—the race is no longer about automation, but about trustworthy, autonomous AI systems that can reshape how enterprises operate.
Agentic AI is at the core of this leap. Unlike generative AI, which produces outputs based on prompts, agentic AI can autonomously set goals, adapt strategies, and act in dynamic environments. The discussions in Ho Chi Minh City reinforced how quickly enterprises are moving from experimentation to implementation in this space.
Vietnam Rising: A Young Nation with Global Tech Ambitions
The Hitachi Digital Services leadership team emphasized Vietnam’s socioeconomic and talent landscape during the event, underscoring why the country has become a strategic hub. With a population of 101M and a median age of just 32.5 years, the country is in its “golden population period.” Nearly 67% of Vietnamese citizens are of working age, creating one of the most favourable demographics for technology-driven growth.
Economically, Vietnam has become the fastest-growing economy in ASEAN+3, recording 7.09% GDP growth in 2024 and outpacing regional peers. Its IT services market, valued at $2.07B in 2024, is expanding at 11.5% CAGR and is expected to reach $3.2B by 2028.
More importantly, Vietnam is not just scaling, it is upskilling. With 57,000 IT/software graduates annually and recognition in global developer rankings, the country is proving its talent is competitive with India and Eastern Europe, while offering a 30%–50% cost advantage.
Building a Global Tech Hub in Southeast Asia
In a fireside chat, Binh Le, head of resource management and engineering CoEs, spoke about how Vietnam’s transition from an outsourcing base to an innovation hub is fuelled by three factors:
Connectivity and infrastructure: With 79% internet penetration, nationwide 5G rollout, and data privacy frameworks like the Personal Data Protection Decree (2023), Vietnam offers a global-standard infrastructure.
Global integration: Over 15 free trade agreements and $38.2B in FDI (2024), focused on high-tech sectors, show strong international confidence.
Skilled workforce: Vietnam consistently ranks in the top for developer talent, producing engineers at scale with proven problem-solving skills.
Together, these advantages have made Vietnam a magnet for multinational tech firms. This perspective resonated strongly during the event, especially as Hitachi Digital Services highlighted its role in making Vietnam a global innovation hub, not just a delivery location.
Hitachi Digital Services in Vietnam: More Than a Delivery Center
For Hitachi Digital Services, Vietnam is not just another offshore location, it is its second-largest global delivery hub after India. With more than 1,000 professionals and over 120 clients and partners, the Vietnam Delivery Center (VDC) plays a central role in delivering advanced digital solutions.
During the event, Chief Delivery Officer NS Kumar detailed how the centers of excellence (CoEs) are designed around four industry verticals: manufacturing and semiconductors, energy and smart spaces, rail, and automotive. This alignment reflects Hitachi Digital Services’ strength in blending operational technology (OT) with IT and AI. This combination allows Hitachi Digital Services to deliver integrated ITxOTxAI solutions, powering transformation across industrial ecosystems.
Engineering Transformation Across Industries
The event also featured deep dives into case studies, showcasing how Vietnam has become central to transformation across industries.
Manufacturing: For a cable manufacturer, the VDC deployed digital factory solutions, including Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM), enabling smarter production, quality tracking, and operational efficiency.
Rail: The team established a central SCADA-based Rail Operations Control Center and built HMAX fleet monitoring solutions for a UK rail operator to transform rail data into actionable engineering insights.
Automotive: In North America, Hitachi Connectivity engineered robotic assembly lines, while Hitachi Digital Services integrated IT and OT systems to deliver Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) that connected shop floors to digital ecosystems.
Energy and smart spaces: Through intelligent asset management, building management systems, and worker safety platforms, the VDC supports next-generation smart grids and energy ecosystems
Each case demonstrates Vietnam’s ability to deliver end-to-end solutions that are not limited to ASEAN but serve markets as diverse as Europe and North America.
Agentic AI Comes Alive: From Concept to Practice
The shift from generative to agentic AI was highlighted by Pradeep Pasupuleti, AI leader. He showcased how HARC Agents form a system of intelligent AI agents capable of automating workflows in supply chain, finance, DevOps, IT/OT security, and logistics.
To support this, Hitachi Digital Services developed the HARC Agent Management System (AMS), a platform that ensures observability, governance, and life cycle management across heterogeneous agent ecosystems. The system can manage both Hitachi-built and third-party agents, enabling enterprise clients to scale AI safely.
Vietnam is at the heart of this agentic AI journey. Every employee in the VDC is now being trained on AI and Gen AI, making the workforce 100% AI-ready. Moreover, the hub is pioneering human-AI collaboration use cases, such as HARC Agents for workforce productivity and virtual system engineers that provide maintenance recommendations by analyzing historical tickets and real-time data.
Overcoming the Challenges of Autonomous AI
Adopting agentic AI is not without hurdles. There are several key challenges:
Model reliability: Ensuring consistent outputs in dynamic environments.
System integration: Connecting AI with legacy IT/OT systems.
Trust deficit: Overcoming scepticism, particularly in sensitive industries such as finance.
Security risks: Guarding against threats such as memory poisoning, credential theft, and malicious agent behavior.
At the event, the R2O2.ai framework was explained as Hitachi Digital Services’ answer to these challenges. Hearing how it builds trustworthy, transparent, and explainable AI models — with human-in-the-loop governance, ethical safeguards, and security red teaming — helped understand how Hitachi Digital Services is approaching the responsibility question in AI adoption.
Vietnam’s Role in Global AI Ecosystems
The Vietnam hub is not limited to regional delivery. Today, solutions such as rail SCADA for Italy and AI-enabled automotive MES for North America are designed and built in Vietnam.
This global reach demonstrates that Vietnam has evolved into an export hub for AI innovation. Hitachi Digital Services leverages partnerships with NVIDIA (edge AI and GPUs), Microsoft (GitHub Copilot and Gen AI), and Google (AI transcription and workflow automation) to bring best-in-class solutions to clients worldwide.
Why Vietnam is the Future of Near-Shore AI Delivery
As supply chains evolve, enterprises are rethinking their global delivery strategies. Vietnam’s proximity to ASEAN, strong trade ties with Japan and France, and favourable compliance environment make it a prime location for nearshore delivery in heavy industries.
This was reinforced by several discussions at the event, particularly around how Hitachi Digital Services supports client Global Capability Centers (GCCs), not just by setting them up but by enabling them, especially in the energy sector.
Looking Ahead: Vietnam as a Strategic Asset for Hitachi Digital Services
For Hitachi Digital Services, Vietnam is more than a delivery site — it is a pillar of its global growth strategy. Future expansion may involve acquisitions in enterprise applications to strengthen its application services portfolio.
The event concluded with a strong message from Hitachi Digital Systems and Services’ Senior Expert, Hiroyuki Kumazaki, about positioning Vietnam as a strategic AI-first asset for the group’s global future. This indicates that Vietnam will continue to serve as the company’s nerve center for AI development.
Conclusion: Writing the Next Chapter of AI in Vietnam
Attending the Analyst & Advisor Connect in Ho Chi Minh City gave a unique vantage point: this was not just a corporate showcase, but a window into how AI strategy is being operationalized in Vietnam.
The story of Hitachi Digital Services in Vietnam reflects the future of digital transformation itself. AI adoption is no longer about tools and copilots — it is about agents that reason, collaborate, and act. Vietnam, with its talent, scale, and cost advantage, has become the ideal launchpad for this future.
By transforming its VDC into a global innovation hub, Hitachi Digital Services is proving that the next wave of AI disruption will not be confined to Silicon Valley, Tokyo, or Munich; it will also be written in Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City, where human ingenuity meets agentic intelligence.
By Jyotika Jain, Lead Analyst, Avasant, and Sahaj Kumar, Associate Research Director, Avasant