Alphabet's Google is considering building a hyperscale data center in Vietnam, according to people familiar with the matter. If realized, this may be another large investment by Google in Southeast Asian countries after Malaysia. In May this year, Google promised to invest $2 billion in Malaysia to build its first data center and Google Cloud region in Malaysia.

It is reported that the initial site for this plan is near Ho Chi Minh City, the economic center in southern Vietnam, but the scale of the investment has not been disclosed, and the specific time for the investment decision has not yet been determined. However, sources said that Google's internal discussions are still ongoing and the data center may be put into operation in 2027.

Relevant people said that this investment will inject a shot in the arm for Vietnam, because due to the imperfect infrastructure, the country's data center field has not yet attracted a lot of overseas capital.

A Google spokesman declined to comment on the plan.

It is understood that "hyperscale data centers" are the largest data centers in the industry, and their power consumption is usually similar to that of large cities. According to data from the Vietnam Data Center Report released by real estate consulting firm Jones Lang LaSalle this year, a hyperscale data center with a power consumption of 50 megawatts may cost between $300 million and $650 million.

The reason why Google is targeting Vietnam is that it has a large number of domestic and foreign cloud service customers, as well as an expanding digital economy, and the country is also one of the fastest growing markets for Google's YouTube. At present, the country's largest data center operators are state-owned Becamex IDC Industrial Investment Company and VNPT Telecommunications Company.

In recent years, Southeast Asia has attracted investment attention from global technology giants due to its labor and tax advantages.

Last December, Nvidia CEO Huang Renxun visited Southeast Asia and planned to work with local technology companies to develop AI infrastructure. In April this year, Apple CEO Tim Cook said he would consider building a factory in Indonesia. The following month, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that it would invest $2.2 billion in Malaysia and $1.7 billion in Indonesia for cloud service construction. Amazon also announced that it would invest $9 billion, $5 billion and $6 billion in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia respectively. Google also extended an olive branch to Malaysia with $2 billion in capital to develop its first data center and Google Cloud region in the country.

In May, there were also reports that Alibaba Group was also considering building a data center in Vietnam, but the company declined to comment.

However, although Vietnam's 100 million people bring a demographic dividend to the digital economy, foreign investors have avoided Vietnam due to factors such as power shortages and weak Internet infrastructure.

In addition, Vietnam has long disagreed with foreign technology companies on the issue of local data storage, but in November last year, Vietnamese lawmakers approved a reform that allows overseas data center operators to retain full ownership.

According to a message posted by Google Vietnam Director Marc Woo on LinkedIn last month, Google has recruited dozens of engineers, marketing experts and other professionals in Vietnam. "We have a team locally to better serve our advertisers in Vietnam and support the country's digital transformation," said a company spokesperson.

In addition, 40,000 scholarships for basic AI courses are provided, and 20 selected AI startups are provided with $350,000 in funding each.