Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s biggest economic hub, will help startups by pushing venture capital, said Truong Minh Huy Vu, Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, at the “SAIH: Applied AI Lab Demo Day 2026” event on Thursday.
The event, hosted by Google AI Futures Fund, marked the completion of the first intake of Saigon AI Hub. It is an open research and applied AI initiative, as a cooperation between Vietnam National University HCMC, local tech giant VNG, and Google Labs’ AI Futures Funds.
As Ho Chi Minh City develops its role as Vietnam’s international financial center, it aims to expand funding opportunities for technology projects, Vu elaborated.
Beyond access to data, the city plans to support startups with resources, including CPU and GPU computing infrastructure, data centers, AI centers, and matching funds for venture investments, Vu added.
He highlighted the city is willing to share risks with investors and founders, especially the uncertainty inherent in venture capital investment, in order to help promising technology products reach the market.
For the next intakes of Saigon AI Hub, Vu urged the body to focus on building the city’s database on real estate, tax, finance and solving practical problems.
On the same page, Le Hong Minh, chairman and founder of VNG, said next intakes of the program should focus on solving issues of businesses and agencies, with the aid of AI.