The documentary Silicon Delta - The Story of Vietnam’s Tech Revolution, produced by Warner Bros. Discovery and FPT Corporation (FPT), was released on September 12. The film showcases Vietnam's transformation into a global innovation hub and highlights the journey of FPT as the nation’s pioneering IT company, propelling the development of Vietnam’s tech landscape.

On this occasion, Mr. Pham Minh Tuan, FPT Executive Vice President and FPT Software Chief Executive Officer, sat down for a conversation about the documentary and how FPT has been leading the efforts to foster agility and innovation in Vietnam’s global dynamic landscape.

FPT - From a Nation’s Pioneer

to a World-Class Technology Solutions Provider

Founded to uplift poverty and showcase Vietnam’s intelligence to the world, FPT has experienced pivotal moments that shaped not just the company’s destiny but also Vietnam's technological advancements. The company's pioneering spirit is rooted in a relentless drive to lead initiatives in digital transformation, helping global businesses address complex business opportunities and challenges.

FPT’s 'going global' strategy has been a bold move. How has this strategy evolved, and what new markets or sectors is FPT focusing on to sustain its global growth?

Our “going global“ strategy means more than just expanding our footprint. It’s about leveraging our home country's strengths to help our clients diversify their business models and enhance operational excellence to mitigate risks and thrive. We have established a strong global presence across 30 countries, trusted by over 1,100 customers with tens of thousands of successful digital transformation projects.

After 36 years of development, FPT has evolved from an IT outsourcing company to a comprehensive technology services and solutions provider, offering comprehensive, end-to-end services from consulting to design, implementation, and maintenance. We also co-create solutions with clients, staying at the forefront of high-growth sectors like semiconductor, automotive, artificial intelligence (AI), green transformation and digital transformation.

Driving the Future with Agility and Innovation

You mentioned agility and innovation as important success factors. How has FPT been driving these?

Our approach focuses on understanding customers’ challenges and being flexible in addressing them. We drive agility and innovation for our clients by leveraging our industry know-how, global partner network, resourceful global workforce, and best-shore delivery models, combining with Vietnam’s advantage of a thriving tech ecosystem, a favorable business environment, and a young, highly skilled workforce. All these factors allow us to enable our global clients to become more agile and market-responsive with speed, scalability, and optimized costs.

To elaborate on the company’s approach, he highlights examples from Japan – one of FPT’s major markets – where there is strong demand for modernizing and migrating legacy systems to modern technologies. FPT has decades of experience helping Japanese enterprises with customized solutions, ensuring seamless integration with new working models and existing infrastructures so that its customers optimize their workforce to focus on higher-value projects. With nearly 65% of CIOs and Heads of IT citing business competitiveness as a key driver for modernization, FPT’s role in supporting enterprises through this transformation is crucial, showcasing successes across industries and regions. This is also an area where FPT leverages its strengths in Cloud, AI, and Intelligent Automation, providing comprehensive solutions to meet evolving business needs.

As an IT services provider, FPT enables enterprises to unlock next-level efficiency by being a champion vendor, streamlining IT operations, and leveraging economies of scale. One of the leading success stories is in the US market, where FPT has been central to an automotive dealer solution provider’s consolidation of their extensive list of 200 down to 3 vendors and scaling up the delivery team quickly from just a few hundred to over 1,000 in a short period during COVID-19 time. These efforts not only brought profit and reputation to the company but also enhanced Vietnam’s stature as a global destination for business and innovation.

Vietnam is actively promoting Artificial Intelligence. How will FPT drive this movement forward?

Aligned with Vietnam’s government direction, FPT plays an active role in elevating Vietnam’s position in the global AI landscape. Vietnam will be an AI nation, and FPT will be an AI-driven Corporation. Everything starts with education from FPT School and FPT University and partnerships with the top AI players in the world. All our engineers will be AI engineers, and all services and solutions will be AI-enabled.

Our commitment to AI is backed by 1,500 AI experts working across 10 key industries, including automotive, healthcare, manufacturing, finance, and logistics. With 200 successful projects to date, our strong foundation in data and AI empowers ourselves and enterprises to reinvent and achieve new levels of performance.

FPT is betting big on AI, we will serve 50% of Vietnam citizens and 500 million global citizens through our AI-enabled services and solutions. Our goal is to help unlock AI's full potential while ensuring robust data management and security, so that AI solutions will benefit businesses of all sizes as well as mass users.

What role will FPT continue to play in the country's evolving landscape in the future?

At FPT, we are committed to constantly innovating and embedding the latest technologies to enhance our digital capabilities. By strengthening our global footprint and collaborating with international businesses, we also contribute to fostering cross-border partnerships between Vietnam and other nations.

"Beyond business, FPT focuses on training the next generation of talent to prepare a future-ready workforce in high-potential fields like AI, automotive technology, and semiconductors—not only for Vietnam but also for the global market," said Mr. Tuan. With a commitment to education underscored by the founding of FPT Education in 2006, FPT has significantly contributed to Vietnam's ability to produce high-quality IT graduates. Vietnam now ranks among the top nations, with 80,000 IT graduates annually and more than 1 million people working in the IT industry.

Reflection on FPT’s Journey and Future Outlook

Returning to the documentary, how do you expect the audience to feel after watching it?

I’m proud that the story of Vietnam and FPT has now been brought widely to a global audience, so that who haven't known much about Vietnam can have a glimpse of how we have grown and our potential as a destination for business investment and innovation.

For me, this is a nostalgic reflection on the early days. It's the journey that spans many generations of FPT people who share the same ambitious dream of bringing Vietnam’s intelligence to the world. I hope veteran leaders and long-time employees feel the same as I do as we look back on FPT’s notable milestones built from the collective efforts of FPT people.

For our young employees, particularly the Gen-Z members who grew up in a very different setting but now make up more than half of our workforce, I hope this film is an opportunity to understand more about our country’s journey and about FPT’s history and vision over the years.

I also believe that through the documentary, FPT's clients, partners, and friends will see FPT as more than a business partner but also a reliable companion, particularly during times of challenges and uncertainties, continuously innovating to help them meet evolving market needs.