Approaches to Regulating Artificial Intelligence: A Primer
Vietnamese Billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong's VinGroup Sells AI Venture To Qualcomm
AI. Big data concept. 3D render
gettyVingroup—controlled by billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong, Vietnam's wealthiest person—has sold its generative artificial intelligence (AI) division to U.S. Chipmaker Qualcomm.
Qualcomm has acquired MovianAI Artificial Intelligence Application and Research, the San Diego, California-based company said in a statement, without disclosing the amount. MovianAI is the former generative AI division of VinAI Application and Research JSC, part of Vingroup, Vietnam's largest conglomerate.
"By bringing in high-caliber talent from VinAI, we are strengthening our ability to deliver cutting-edge AI solutions that will benefit a wide range of industries and consumers," said Jilei Hou, senior vice president of engineering at Qualcomm. This acquisition will help make Qualcomm "the driving force behind the next wave of AI innovation."
VinAI founder and CEO Hung Bui, who previously worked at Google DeepMind, will join Qualcomm as part of the deal. He built VinAI's expertise in generative AI, machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing.
Qualcomm said it has been building up its AI research and development capabilities internally to create advanced AI solutions for smartphones, computers, and vehicles.
"We are ready to contribute to Qualcomm's mission of making breakthroughs in fundamental AI research and scale them across industries," Hung said. "Our team's expertise in generative AI and machine learning will help accelerate the development of innovative solutions that can transform the way we live and work."
The U.S. Tech giant said it's been working with the Vietnamese technology ecosystem in the past two decades to create and deliver innovative solutions. Its innovations in the areas of 5G, AI, Internet of Things and automotive helped boost Vietnam's information and communication technology industry and put Vietnamese companies globally.
With a real-time net worth of $7.7 billion, Pham got his start from an instant noodles business he founded in Ukraine in 1993. He sold the business to Nestle in 2010, using the proceeds to start Vingroup, which has since grown to become a diversified conglomerate with interests in real estate, retail, healthcare, education, autos and technology.
Vietnamese AI Software Translates Lao, Thai, Khmer Language To Vietnamese
Machine translation is one of the most successful AI applications of natural language processing. High-quality machine translation systems such as Google's Google Translate or Microsoft's Bing Translator need large-scale bilingual data sets, up to millions of pairs of sentences for machine learning.
However, many languages in the world don't have enough resources. That is why the building of effective machine translation for low-resource languages, including Southeast Asian languages, is an urgent and challenging work.
Most recently, the Information Technology Institute under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology has researched and mastered the most advanced machine translation technology. It has also successfully built a multilingual text translation system that translates from Vietnamese to regional languages including Lao, Khmer, Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian, and vice versa.
According to the developer, challenges arose when building the machine translation model. The difficulties not only were from the scarcity of bilingual data, but also from the diversity in morphology, lack of word and sentence separation, and polysemy.
The AI model developed by the IT Institute can learn how to adapt to all these characteristics of the languages. The software quickly supplements other languages when necessary with translation quality equal to that of foreign made products.
The special feature of the multi-lingual translation software is that it runs separately and stores data on the spot, with no need to use the API (application programming interface) of other service providers. This ensures information security and prevents information leakage.
The problem of well-known translation systems, such as Google Translate and Big Translator, is the domain specific adaptation. In other words, they can translate common words for the majority of people, but the translation quality is poor in translating specialized terms such as health, law, security and others.
To fix the problem, the research team of the IT Institute has developed a translation system with Vietnamese language put at the center, capable of conducting two-way translation to low-resource languages.
The translation software has a relatively high quality, the same, or even higher than Google Translate for the same documents. There is no limitation on the length of documents translated to other languages.
In 2022-2023, the system focused on deploying Large Language Models (LLMs) with the priority given to pairs of languages: Vietnamese-Khmer, Vietnamese-Laos, Vietnamese-Thai, Vietnamese-Malay and Vietnamese-Indonesian.
For English translation, the software developed at the IT Institute has the same high quality as Google Translate.
Le My
Google's Vietnamese AI Expert: Vietnam Can Lead In AI And Chip Design
Dr. Le Viet Quoc, a Vietnamese AI scientist, is known for pioneering deep learning at Google. His groundbreaking research has contributed to AI applications in natural language processing and computer vision.
Speaking at the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Semiconductors (AISC) 2025, Dr. Le Viet Quoc shared his insights on investment strategies for AI and semiconductor development.
Vietnam's opportunity in AI and semiconductors
Dr. Quoc acknowledged that this is a historic opportunity for Vietnam to develop semiconductor and AI technologies.
"The timing is ideal - neither too early nor too late. For example, entering the smartphone industry now would be too late since it has been established for years. However, AI and chip technologies are still emerging and full of potential," he explained.
Vietnam's key advantage lies in its human resources. "Everything - whether building pyramids, landing on the moon, or developing AI - depends on human talent. Vietnam has strong STEM capabilities, giving it a competitive edge."
Competing in the global tech landscape
Vietnam competes with regional powerhouses such as Singapore, India, and China in human capital.
"Singapore lacks Vietnam's manpower, while China faces its own geopolitical challenges with the U.S. Vietnam's main competitor in this space is India," Dr. Quoc noted.
To leverage this opportunity, he stressed the importance of improving higher education quality, expanding postgraduate research, and establishing research institutes to foster local talent.
According to Dr. Quoc, the semiconductor industry demands immense financial resources, with chip production alone requiring investments of billions of dollars.
"Vietnam would struggle to compete in low-cost chip manufacturing. Instead, the country should prioritize AI investment, as it requires fewer resources and has a long runway for future growth," he advised.
For semiconductors, he suggested Vietnam focus on chip design rather than chip production. "Chip design yields higher profit margins and is better suited to Vietnam's available resources and expertise."
Key focus areas for AI development
Dr. Quoc cautioned against rushing into AI development without strategic planning. "If Vietnam simply replicates existing AI companies like DeepSeek, it will always be playing catch-up."
Instead, he proposed a more innovative approach, such as using AI for chip design - a niche that combines AI and semiconductors.
For chatbot development, he recommended identifying weaknesses in existing models and innovating in those areas to create a competitive advantage.
When asked whether Vietnam benefits from being a "latecomer" in AI, Dr. Quoc acknowledged that while early movers have advantages, those who follow can also leverage lessons learned.
"In marathons, some runners stay behind to avoid headwinds. Similarly, latecomers can learn from the mistakes of pioneers," he explained.
He pointed out that major AI companies like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini face scalability challenges due to their massive user bases. "Newer AI firms can focus on refining their models without the burden of serving millions of users from day one," he said.
Dr. Quoc believes Vietnam can develop AI models with high efficiency and lower costs.
"AI models in computer vision, speech processing, and natural language processing (NLP) are becoming significantly cheaper. While the first AI models cost hundreds of millions of dollars, subsequent versions require only $20 million, then $5 million, and costs continue to drop. This makes AI development in Vietnam entirely feasible."
Trong Dat
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