GPT-5 and AI Agents: The Future of Data Centers in Vietnam

Dr. Duong Van Thinh

Chairman of Vietnam AI & Data Center Club

Vice President of AI Technology at Veron Group

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is shaping the future of the global economy and society, with Vietnam emerging as a potential destination in the race to develop data centers and AI in Southeast Asia. With strong supporting policies, attractive investment opportunities and increasing international cooperation, Vietnam is laying the foundation for a solid AI ecosystem.

This article analyzes the potentials, challenges and roles of Vietnam in this field, especially the emergence of GPT-5 and AI Agents. AI and Data Center Development Policy The Vietnamese Government has determined to become an AI innovation hub in ASEAN through the National Strategy on Research, Development and Application of Artificial Intelligence to 2030, promulgated on January 26, 2021.

The goal is to bring Vietnam into the group of leading countries in ASEAN and the top 60 globally in AI by 2030. The government also issued Decree 182/2024/ND-CP, supporting 50% of the initial investment costs for AI and semiconductor research and development projects.

In addition, the revised Telecommunications Law, effective from July 1, 2025, allows foreign investors to own 100% of Data Center services, creating conditions to attract FDI capital. Investment Opportunities for Foreign Investors Vietnam is becoming an attractive destination thanks to low investment costs, only about 5.5-8.4 million USD per MW, the second lowest in the region according to Cushman & Wakefield.

Data Center demand is expected to increase sharply at a rate of 19-22% per year until 2030, according to McKinsey, while the total capacity in Vietnam is only about 150 MW. Large corporations such as NVIDIA, FPT, and Viettel are investing heavily, with FPT and NVIDIA’s $200 million AI Factory project being a prime example. The Vietnamese data center market is forecast to reach $1.1 billion by the end of the decade, creating huge opportunities for international investors such as Samsung, ST Telemedia, and Supermicro.

AI Trends in Southeast Asia According to Gartner According to a recent report by Gartner, Southeast Asia is witnessing strong growth in AI investment, with the focus on developing high-performance data centers to support advanced AI models such as GPT-5. Gartner notes that countries such as Vietnam and Malaysia are competing to become data center hubs thanks to low operating costs and preferential policies.

The process of power sources and high-quality human resources are still barriers to overcome to take advantage of the Generative AI trend. The Situation of the Data Center and AI Industry in Vietnam Currently, Vietnam has 33 commercial data centers with more than 20,000 racks, mainly operated by internal enterprises such as Viettel (14 data centers, 87 MW), VNPT and CMC. Major projects include NVIDIA's AI Research and Data Center, which has just signed a cooperation agreement with the Vietnamese Government in December 2024.

However, the infrastructure is still limited, with raw data not being standardized and a shortage of about 150,000-200,000 AI cores per year, according to Navigos Group. An AI expert in Vietnam has identified that GPT-5 and AI Agents have the potential to revolutionize the data center by optimizing data processing and automation processes. However, he emphasized the speed of energy consumption, when an AI problem can consume 10 times the electricity price, so conventional search. He suggested that Vietnam should prioritize the development of data centers using renewable energy and liquid cooling to meet the needs of advanced AI models.

Vietnam's Role in ASEAN According to experts from Savills Hanoi, Vietnam has a competitive advantage with a return on investment in data centers of up to 9.5-10%, higher than Singapore (5%). With a young workforce, policy support and cooperation with global technology corporations, Vietnam is emerging as a bright spot in the AI system area.

ChatGPT-5 is an advanced artificial intelligence version of OpenAI, designed to understand and generate natural language in a smarter, more coherent and flexible way than previous versions. It is capable of answering questions, writing creative content, supporting learning, analyzing data, translating and even having natural conversations like humans. GPT-5 is trained on a large amount of data, combining information, reasoning and inventing to give accurate, clear answers that are appropriate for each specific scene.

AI Agents are artificial intelligence systems designed to perform tasks automatically, proactively and intelligently, similar to “virtual assistants” that can think and act. We have the ability to receive information from the environment, analyze data, make decisions and take actions to achieve goals. AI Agents can work independently or distribute to humans and other agents. We are widely used in business, customer care, research, robotics, games and many other fields.

Data Center is a specialized infrastructure for storing, managing and processing large data modules. Inside the Data Center are server systems, storage devices, networks, backup power supplies, cooling and mixed network security solutions. This is the “heart” of businesses and technology organizations, helping to maintain continuous operation for websites, applications, cloud services and information systems. Modern Data Centers also integrate virtualization, AI and IoT technologies to optimize performance and save energy.

Vietnam is in a golden position to become the AI and TTDL center of Southeast Asia, but needs to address energy, human resources and legal frameworks. With strategic policies and international cooperation, GPT-5 and AI Agents promise to take Vietnam further on the global technology map. This process is not easy but the potential is huge.

Veron Group is an expert in training AI and AI Agents for data center operations teams. The unit provides in-depth training programs, helping engineers master AI technology, develop and manage AI Agents effectively, thereby improving performance, reliability and system automation capabilities.