Abu Dhabi’s G42 enters Vietnam to drive data centre growth

Abu Dhabi-backed technology group G42 has signed a deal with a consortium, comprising FPT Corporation and Viet Thai Group, to develop hyperscale data centres and artificial intelligence infrastructure across Vietnam.

The partnership, backed by consumption commitments of up to $1 billion, will deploy significant cloud capacity across three data centre locations in Vietnam, delivering high-performance AI and cloud services to support the public and private sectors, G42 said in a statement on Monday.

The initiative aims to support Vietnam’s ambition to become an AI hub in Southeast Asia, while ensuring national data sovereignty and digital resilience, the statement said.

“Vietnam clearly understands that it cannot move forward alone,” FPT chairman Truong Gia Binh said.

“In areas such as semiconductors, AI, cloud computing, big data, and cybersecurity, we need strategic alliances with partners we can rely on and trust,” he added.

The partnership includes plans for national AI skilling and workforce development programmes to support AI adoption across government, industry and academia.

Earlier this month US AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems, in which G42 owns a stake, raised $1 billion in a funding round.

Last month the UAE and Qatar joined Pax Silica, a US-led coalition aimed at securing cross-border infrastructure and supply chains for the AI era.

Emirates-based sovereign wealth funds, such as Mubadala and ADQ, and AI-focused developers and investors including G42 and MGX are working with a range of US partners, from Nvidia to OpenAI, in a bid to win the global technology race.

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