Vietnam’s Data Centre Development Push: Explained
Taking effect today, the country has imposed a new decree designed to make it easier for telecoms players, data centre operators and cloud providers to set up operations in the region.
This is part of efforts to boost data centre development across Vietnam and comes into effect 1 July 2025. The decree aims to streamline regulatory approval processes for IT communications and sectors including telecommunications and data centres.
It should mean that local governments will be able to grant licences for select telecom services, according to Vietnam Investment Review, including fixed-line, data centres and cloud services.
How the Vietnamese data centre market is changing
Vietnam is experiencing significant growth within its data centre market, driven in part by the country rapidly undergoing digital transformation.
Several key companies in the industry, including Telehouse, Viettel and STT GDC, are investing significantly in expanding data centre infrastructure across the country to support AI and cloud demand.
Viettel, the largest telecommunications group in Vietnam, broke ground on its landmark high-tech data centre and research and development complex in the Tan Phu Trung Industrial Park in Ho Chi Minh City in April 2025.
Proposed as one of Southeast Asia’s largest data centres, the new facility is the first in Vietnam to achieve hyperscale status.
STT GDC’s second facility in Vietnam will have an IT load of up to 60 megawatts.
Additionally, governments across Asia-Pacific (APAC) have been easing regulations on data centre ownership to increase domestic capacity and encourage foreign investment.
According to JLL, Vietnam removed a 49% cap on foreign ownership for data centres to mirror The People’s Republic of China’s earlier pilot program to relax foreign investment limits in the telecom sector.
Loosening these restrictions ultimately helps to support a growing data centre industry.
“In terms of data centre capacity, Vietnam is still a developing market compared to the regional hubs,” says Dr. Glen Duncan, Head of Data Center Research, Asia Pacific at JLL.
“Foreign operators will bring additional skills and capabilities to build large-scale data centres in the country, accelerating its digital economy.”
A bid for hyperscale investment
The new decree also hopes to bring substantial benefits and regulatory clarity to data centre businesses operating in, or planning to enter, the Vietnamese market.
One of the key aspects within the reform plans is the decentralisation of licensing authority to provincial People’s Committees, allowing for faster local deployment of telecom services such as fixed-line, data centres and cloud computing.
This change is expected to accelerate licensing, streamline procedures for both domestic and foreign investors and enable infrastructure development tailored to regional needs.
This move is designed to encourage the development of integrated hybrid infrastructure models and supports seamless investment in edge and hyperscale data facilities.
Additionally, a fully digital application framework will be introduced to improve transparency, reduce manual processing and lower operational costs for businesses.
Ultimately, Vietnam is eager to reinforce its position within the APAC data centre market and also as a secure and competitive regional digital hub.
By improving data governance and cross-border management, the new decree is a critical step in modernising the country’s infrastructure and governance – particularly in the telecommunications and data centre sectors.
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