When Viet Nam welcomed the largest United States expedition in history··· ｜SEA Now

Technology knows no boundaries, but it also has its own unique process. Here, we will review with you what events have happened in the field of science and technology Internet in Southeast Asia this week (2024.09.23-2024.09.29).

This week's protagonist is still Viet Nam.

Although more than a year has passed since last year's so-called "largest" United States business mission, Viet Nam, an "emerging region" with the "fastest growing middle class in Southeast Asia" and an important market for tech giants, has apparently been writing more about the story.

As we can see, this week, it was revealed that SpaceX, one of the members of the mission, plans to invest $1.5 billion in Viet Nam to develop Starlink services in the near future. Not long ago, it was reported that another member of the delegation, Google, would also cast "chips" in Viet Nam. According to sources, Google is planning to build a large data center in Viet Nam — but this plan is also still in progress and has not yet been implemented.

Moving on to earlier, not only the aforementioned tech giants, late last year, Nvidia CEO Jensen also said that Nvidia wants to build a new base in Viet Nam to develop the country's semiconductor industry. He said that in Nvidia's view, the Viet Nam market is one of its important markets···

According to the delegation at the time, these companies came to Viet Nam to explore opportunities at a time when Viet Nam was undertaking a shift in manufacturing, the demand for digital was growing, and the local consumer market was expanding as the middle class expanded at an accelerated pace.

At present, Viet Nam, with a population of nearly 100 million, is also in the stage of rapid growth in the scale of the digital economy. As previously listed, data predicts that the total GMV of Viet Nam's digital economy is expected to grow from US$30 billion in 23 years to US$43 billion in 25 years, achieving a compound annual growth rate of 20% (based on this growth rate, Viet Nam will also tie with the Philippines for the first growth rate in Southeast Asia). As a result, "this booming Southeast Asian country" is also seen as an opportunity for investment and sales, and some companies have expressed a desire to develop Viet Nam into a manufacturing hub···

In the future, it is not difficult to expect more attention from technology companies to Viet Nam and leave a deep mark here. In the process, it is also not difficult to see that this emerging market, which ranks among the top three in Southeast Asia by population and is expected to increase GDP by 5% to 7% in the next decade, will also show more impressiveness to the outside world.

Okay, without further ado, let's get to the point of this issue.

Industry & Dynamics

YouTube Shopping Officially Launches in Indonesia: YouTube and Shopee recently announced the launch of Shopping in Indonesia, with plans to expand the service to other countries in Southeast Asia, aiming to help creators earn commissions through in-video links. In partnership with Shopee, creators can showcase their products in all video formats, and viewers can purchase them directly. Creators who qualify for the YouTube Partner Program will benefit from this new revenue channel. Shopee will also provide commission incentives to help creators improve the quality of their content.

Viet Nam announced a three-stage semiconductor industry roadmap, aiming to have 1 chip manufacturing plant and 10 packaging and testing plants by 2030: According to the official website of the Ministry of Communications and Media of Viet Nam, the Viet Nam government officially promulgated the development strategy of Viet Nam's semiconductor industry by 2030 and the vision by 2050 on the 21st local time, aiming to build Viet Nam into one of the world's leading semiconductor centers. The Viet Nam government's overall semiconductor strategy can be simply described as "C=SET+1": where C is the Chip; S stands for Specialized, which refers to special-purpose semiconductors; E is the abbreviation of Electronics, which refers to the downstream electronics industry; T is Talent, emphasizing the importance of talents in the chip industry; +1 reflects Viet Nam's location and policy advantages in the era of semiconductor supply chain diversification.

Japan and ASEAN to cooperate on manufacturing and sales of next-generation vehicles: Japan and ASEAN held a meeting of economic ministers in Laos on September 21 and adopted an "action plan" for cooperation in the manufacture and sale of next-generation vehicles within the ASEAN region, Kyodo News reported. As part of the action plan, a total of seven new projects were approved, including the "circular economy" to promote the reuse and effective use of resources by small and medium-sized enterprises.

Samsung invests $1.8 billion in new OLED factory in Viet Nam: Representatives of Viet Nam's Bac Ninh provincial government have recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Samsung Display for the development of screens and electronic components. According to the report, Samsung Display will invest $1.8 billion in Viet Nam to build a new OLED factory, and this factory is planned near the Samsung Electronics factory in the security industrial park of Bac Ninh province.

UnionPay International and Indonesian transit network ALTO reached cross-border mobile payment cooperation: On September 24, it was reported that UnionPay International and Indonesian transit network ALTO officially signed a cooperation agreement in Shanghai. The two parties will enable all 46,000 ATMs of ALTO and its member banks to accept UnionPay cards, and accelerate cooperation in the field of cross-border mobile payment to enhance the payment experience of people traveling between China and India. ALTO is an important part of Indonesia's national network GPN, and the partnership will increase the local UnionPay ATM acceptance coverage to 90%, as well as improve the UnionPay card experience in popular tourist destinations such as Bali and Jakarta.

Geely and Tasco sign agreement to invest $168 million to build an automobile assembly plant in Viet Nam: According to media reports, Viet Nam company Tasco recently issued a statement saying that it will sign an agreement with Geely Automobile to establish a joint venture for an automobile assembly plant in Viet Nam Province, with a total investment of about $168 million.

According to reports, the plant will be assembled in the form of CKD, with an initial annual production capacity of 75,000 vehicles, involving models under the Lynk & Co and Geely automobile brands, and may be expanded to other brands in the future.

Institutions: ASEAN data center market size expected to reach $11 billion per year in the near future: Maybank Investment Bank recently said that demand for data centers in ASEAN is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 20% in the next few years. Its total potential data center available market (TAM) is expected to reach $11 billion annually by 2028.

Singapore asks e-commerce platform Qoo10 to suspend payment services: It is reported that the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced this week that it has instructed e-commerce platform Qoo10 to suspend payment services in Singapore from this Tuesday. MAS said in a statement that the suspension will not prohibit Qoo10 from operating its e-commerce platform, but may require the platform to hire a third-party payment service provider to provide services for its transactions.

SHEIN reorganizes personnel at Singapore headquarters: Recently, SHEIN reorganized its headquarters in Singapore, affecting 17 employees, and the affected employees learned the news on the 25th.

There are rumors that SHEIN is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) in London, suggesting a change in its strategic plan from its previous plans to list in New York. SHEIN did not respond to a response to this matter, but said it would continue to expand its workforce in Singapore, with the latest expansion of the office.

Thailand approves 7.12 billion baht budget for electric vehicle subsidies: The Cabinet has approved 7.12 billion baht from the central reserve budget for emergency and essential purposes to fund the electric vehicle subsidy program, as reported by the Bangkok Post on September 25.

Prime Minister adviser Jirayu · Wong Sabu said after Tuesday's weekly cabinet meeting that the budget will be used to subsidize buyers of electric vehicles and motorcycles who have already purchased cars but have not yet applied for government subsidies under the electric vehicle promotion measures.

SpaceX plans to invest $1.5 billion in Viet Nam to develop Starlink services: Moving Point Overseas Comprehensive foreign media reports learned that Viet Nam has revealed a few days ago that SpaceX plans to invest $1.5 billion in the country in the near future. According to the media, the investment is expected to promote the landing of SpaceX's Starlink service (that is, Starlink) in Viet Nam.

As a background, the media pointed out that since the middle of last year, SpaceX has been negotiating with the local government for months about providing communication services to Viet Nam through Starlink satellites. However, in February, sources said the talks had been put on hold for the time being.

Investment and financing

Cybersecurity firm Blackpanda receives $6.7 million investment: Blackpanda was co-founded in 2015 by Gene Yu, Matt Pecot, and Kevin McCaffrey to provide cybersecurity services to customers in digital forensics and incident response through its SaaS platform.

According to reports, the three co-founders of Blackpanda have served in the United States Army Special Forces, and the company is mainly composed of military special forces, intelligence officers, forensic doctors, and security experts with law enforcement backgrounds from around the world. It is worth mentioning that the company also claims to be the first cybersecurity company of its kind in these regions.