Quan Nguyen, 25, recently left his job at OpenAI in the United States to return to Vietnam, even though he could earn 10 times more in Silicon Valley.
He says: “Investment in Southeast Asia’s technology industries is increasing. It seems easier to accomplish things in a Vietnamese startup than in Silicon Valley, where I have practically nothing. »
Quan received some pushback from his mother, who preferred that he stay in the United States for a much higher salary, but he says that while one is not exceptional in the United States, he is extremely hard to do something big.
“Most people like me are just a normal technical engineer and it is very competitive even to be promoted to a leader or manager position.”
But he sees that many Vietnamese companies are looking to develop AI and hopes to contribute his knowledge and build a career.
Quan is one of a growing number of Vietnamese who, after years living abroad, are returning to the country to seek opportunities in the fast-growing technology industry.
State-owned telecommunications giant Viettel has seen steady growth in its overseas markets over the past seven years, including a 20.5% increase in revenue last year.
Private technology group FPT said for the first time last year that its software revenues topped $1 billion.
Layoffs in tech jobs in developed countries have also pushed many people back.
Huu Nguyen, 30, an engineer at Meta, Facebook’s parent company, says that every time there was a major layoff, 80 to 90 percent of Vietnamese in Singapore would move to Vietnam. The same trend is observed in the United States, but to a lesser extent.
“Some of my friends received offers of 100 million VND ($4,000) per month in Vietnam and higher positions than in those countries. They can live very comfortably in their home countries.”
Any successful foreign service and product can be imported into Vietnam and modified to suit local consumers, and ride-hailing services are one example, he says.
In foreign countries, most Vietnamese can only stay at the employee level, while in Vietnam they can be managers or even technology directors, he adds.
Nguyen Ngoc Dung, an innovation and startup researcher, says that over the past five years, an increasing number of Vietnamese have returned home to work in the technology industry.
The trend accelerated over the past two years after many global companies laid off workers, she says.
They either work for startups or leading tech companies, she says.
Returning Vietnamese expats are always welcome, and one person from Silicon Valley was even hired as director of an AI department at a conglomerate, she says.
Quan is currently developing a ChatGPT-like product for Vietnamese, which he says can use the Vietnamese language even more fluently than ChatGPT.
“Vietnam’s research and development standards are rising, making returning talents increasingly comfortable.”
Dung says the United States, Japan, South Korea and many other countries have reached higher technological levels than Vietnam, and so people returning from there can contribute a lot to both project reform existing ones and the launch of new ones.
Some who have created their own startups can create jobs, she adds.
Vietnam’s internet economy is expected to see the fastest growth in Southeast Asia by 2025, according to a report by Google, Temasek and Bain.
“There is a lot of freedom in the country for talents to return to research and create new products and services,” Dung said.
“They can follow their passion.”
