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November 28, 2025 to December 4, 2025
This week's top 10 stories from Vietnam, selected from our daily intelligence briefs.
1. Personal Data Protection Law Recasts Data as Regulated Capital, Tightening Consent and Cross‑Border Transfers
Vietnam’s Personal Data Protection Law (Law No. 91/2025/QH15), passed June 26, 2025 and effective January 1, 2026, establishes a comprehensive regulatory regime treating personal data as state‑regulated capital. Firms must map data flows, obtain demonstrable consent before tracking, document cross‑border transfers and face steep penalties for breaches—up to 5% of prior‑year revenue or a minimum of VND 3 billion for violations involving overseas transfers. The law dovetails with Decree 13/2023 and the Data Law (No. 60/2024/QH15, effective July 1, 2025) and will hit finance, healthcare, telecoms, e‑commerce, adtech, AI and cloud sectors hardest, especially where sensitive data and behavioral tracking are used.
The Prime Minister approved implementation Decision 2623/QD‑TTg: the Ministry of Public Security will lead nationwide legal education and technical guidance beginning 2025, ministries and provinces must submit regulatory reviews to MPS by December 15, 2025 (MPS to report to the PM by December 31, 2025), and a national Personal Data Protection Portal plus a national program are to be delivered by December 31, 2026, with inspections starting in 2026. Industry scans by AesirX show many .vn sites still auto‑load trackers and export data, underscoring immediate compliance gaps and the commercial imperative—per AesirX CEO Ronni K. Gothard Christiansen—to localize storage, adopt first‑party data architectures and implement consent management as competitive advantages.
Local Coverage: vneconomy.vn, vietnamplus.vn
From daily briefs: 2025-11-30, 2025-12-02, 2025-12-03
2. Parliament Passes Emergency Law Granting PM Expanded Powers and Defining Crisis Protocols
The National Assembly overwhelmingly approved the Law on State of Emergency by 419–1 votes, to take effect on July 1, 2026, establishing three emergency categories—disaster, national security and public order, and national defense—and clarifying decision-making authority: the Standing Committee of the National Assembly declares or lifts emergencies, the President issues proclamations, and if the Committee cannot convene the President may act on the Prime Minister’s proposal. The statute grants the Prime Minister, with prior authorization, the power to implement measures not otherwise provided for in law or to deploy interventions before a formal declaration, and to establish Special Propaganda Teams and Special Patrol Teams with limited detention and sanctioning powers.
Key operational and accountability provisions include explicit prohibitions on obstructing directives, profiteering, and disseminating false information; requirements for immediate public announcements and coordinated hotlines; and defined protocols for rescue, relief and recovery, as well as legal time limits during emergencies. For international professionals, the law signals a centralization of emergency authority around the executive with expedited operational tools and information controls, raising implications for civil liberties, rule-of-law safeguards and how foreign actors should engage with national authorities during crises.
Local Coverage: thanhnien.vn, vietnamplus.vn, baotintuc.vn, vnexpress.net, com.vn, tuoitre.vn, vneconomy.vn
From daily brief: 2025-12-04
3. Sweeping Land, Tax, and Import Incentives Unveiled for Priority Digital and Semiconductor Projects
Vietnam has launched a sweeping incentive package to fast-track its digital and semiconductor ecosystem, offering full land-use and land-lease exemptions for projects producing priority digital technologies (AI, blockchain, cloud) and especially semiconductor chips (consumer, AI, IoT). The measures extend to makers of 14 categories of semiconductor materials and 18 types of equipment to build a local supply chain. Corporate income tax breaks for electronics manufacturing are unprecedented: a four‑year tax holiday followed by a 50% reduction for nine years, with extensions up to 1.5× for projects investing over VND 6,000 billion. Eligibility hinges on meeting one of four conditions—local chip use/production, in‑country IP ownership, significant R&D commitments, or sourcing at least 30% from Vietnamese suppliers with technology transfer.
The circulars also relax import and procurement rules to accelerate capacity building: used chip‑production equipment up to 20 years old is allowed, R&D and training equipment are exempted from strict life/performance limits, and controlled imports/processing of otherwise prohibited goods are permitted for special purposes. State procurement is tilted toward Vietnamese‑owned hardware designs and locally developed software. For international investors and supply‑chain planners, the package signals Vietnam’s strategic push to locally house higher value segments of semiconductor and digital production, while pairing generous fiscal and non‑fiscal incentives with clear localization and R&D conditions.
Local Coverage: baotintuc.vn
From daily brief: 2025-12-03
4. Revised PPP Law Expands Sectors, Decentralizes Approvals, and Adds Revenue‑Sharing to Draw Private Capital
Vietnam’s amended Public–Private Partnership (PPP) Law significantly widens the scope for private investment by adding IT, digital transformation, science & technology, health, education and digital infrastructure to traditionally infrastructure-focused eligible sectors, and by removing the previous VND200 billion minimum project threshold to allow small- and medium‑scale projects. Approval authority for Group B and C projects is devolved to provincial governments to speed preparation and contracting, and several early‑stage project types (including projects without state capital, high‑tech/innovation projects, operations & maintenance contracts and certain BT models) are exempted from formal investment policy approval to streamline pipeline development.
Key financial and risk‑sharing features aim to improve bankability while constraining fiscal exposure: state capital contributions remain capped at 50% but may rise to 70% for projects with heavy land clearance costs, in difficult locations, or involving high‑tech transfer; a clarified revenue‑sharing mechanism caps downside support at 50% for revenues falling between 90% and 75% of plan and requires investors to share 50% of upside for revenues between 110% and 125%. New PPP contract options and permissions for ancillary businesses are intended to attract private capital, although implementation risks persist around access to credit and timely responsiveness by agencies.
Local Coverage: vneconomy.vn
From daily brief: 2025-12-02
5. Semiconductor Alliance Launches to Tackle Talent Shortage, Positioning Country for Deeper Supply-Chain Role
Hanoi universities and industry partners have launched a Semiconductor Alliance to coordinate training, research and technology transfer as global chipmakers face a widening skills gap. Phase one links more than 20 domestic and foreign institutions—including Vietnam National University (VNU), Ho Chi Minh City National University, South Korea’s Sungkyunkwan University and firms such as FPT, Viettel and Nisso—to share labs, co-develop curricula and advise policy; VNU aims to produce 10,000 specialists by 2030 toward Vietnam’s national target of 50,000 semiconductor professionals.
The move responds to acute regional shortfalls—Japan projects a 200,000-worker deficit by 2035 and Asia needs roughly 450,000 additional highly skilled workers—and signals Vietnam’s intent to become a deeper node in global supply chains. Industry leaders (Intel Products Vietnam, Mitsubishi Research Institute) stress hands-on factory learning and tighter school–industry alignment to close the theory–practice gap, positioning Vietnamese engineers for front-end, back-end and R&D roles domestically and overseas.
Local Coverage: vnexpress.net, baotintuc.vn, vietnamplus.vn
From daily brief: 2025-11-29
6. QR Cross-Border Payments Launch Between China and Vietnam, With Full Two-Way Integration Planned for 2026
China and Vietnam have launched a unilateral QR cross‑border payment link allowing Chinese visitors to pay in Vietnam by scanning VIETQR Global at participating merchants, including Central Retail supermarkets, Highlands Coffee, and Sun World venues. The scheme, enabled by Vietnam’s NAPAS, China’s UnionPay International (UPI), ICBC and Vietcombank, uses local‑currency settlement to speed checkouts, reduce cash handling and cut foreign‑exchange friction; China was Vietnam’s top inbound market with 3.9 million arrivals among 15.4 million international visitors in the first nine months of 2025.
Authorities expect full two‑way functionality in early 2026 so Vietnamese customers using NAPAS‑member apps can scan QR codes across UnionPay’s network in China, creating a bi‑directional retail QR ecosystem for travel, commerce and transport. Stakeholders frame the initiative as both a practical tourism and retail convenience and a platform that supports RMB internationalization and deeper people‑to‑people economic exchange.
Local Coverage: thanhnien.vn, baotintuc.vn, vietnamplus.vn, vneconomy.vn, tuoitre.vn
From daily briefs: 2025-12-03, 2025-12-04
7. Cabinet Approves National Digital Government Program with AI-First, Open Data and Data Center Push to 2030
Vietnam’s Cabinet approved Decision 2629/QĐ-TTg establishing a National Digital Government Program to 2030 that mandates an “AI-first” operating model, open-by-default data, and unified national platforms down to the commune level. Key targets include end-to-end online processing of all eligible procedures and electronic handling of work files by 2027, and by 2030 achieving 99% user satisfaction, complete digitization of administrative records, and reuse of 80% of digitized data. The plan requires mature data governance across ministries, standardized open data from all agencies, and deployment of at least three National Data Center clusters integrated with a unified government cloud.
The program defines nine solution pillars—regulation, data, platforms, infrastructure, cybersecurity, talent, international cooperation, financing, and performance monitoring—and explicitly positions AI as a core tool for policy-making, service delivery and decision support. Emphasis on real-time, data-driven administration and decentralized digital infrastructure signals Vietnam’s push to scale digital public services nationwide while creating regulatory, technical and governance challenges around interoperability, privacy and investment execution.
Local Coverage: vietnamplus.vn, baotintuc.vn, vneconomy.vn
From daily brief: 2025-12-03
8. Power Operations Plan for 2026 Prioritizes Fuel Security and Grid Upgrades to Support Double‑Digit Growth
Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade approved the 2026 National Power System Operation Plan to secure reliable supply for GDP growth of 10% or more, keeping coal, hydropower and gas-fired plants as the backbone while dispatching renewables subject to grid and technical limits. The plan highlights fuel-security risks from delayed new plants, adverse hydrology, falling domestic gas output and slow new gas projects, which could increase coal imports and raise the prospect of overlapping outages; it therefore assigns the National System Manager Operator (NSMO) to update monthly operations and fuel needs, and directs EVN, PVN and TKV to secure coal, gas and oil supplies and maintain thermal units at high readiness.
To strengthen the Northern grid, the plan accelerates 500 kV Nho Quan–Phu Ly–Thuong Tin transmission works and substation upgrades at Hoa Binh, Pho Noi, Thai Binh and Bac Ninh; demand‑side measures — peak‑hour savings, demand response and self-consumption rooftop solar — will be expanded to relieve dry‑season stress. The combination of accelerated transmission reinforcement and stricter fuel procurement aims to mitigate short‑term reliability risks while preserving room for continued double‑digit economic growth.
Local Coverage: vneconomy.vn
From daily brief: 2025-11-30
9. Amazon to Launch Direct Shipping Route from Ho Chi Minh City to the U.S. as City Courts Qatar Investment
On Nov. 26 Ho Chi Minh City advanced two external economic initiatives: city leaders met Qatar’s ambassador Khalid Ali Abel at the Autumn Economic Forum to discuss cooperation in food security, consumer goods, IT, LNG and automotive parts, with potential agreements anticipated during a planned visit by Qatar’s emir early next year. Separately, Amazon Global Selling (AGS) announced it will soon open a direct shipping route from Ho Chi Minh City to the U.S. to accelerate delivery for Vietnamese sellers and strengthen cross‑border e‑commerce.
AGS regional head Larry Hu outlined four growth pillars—shifting leadership beyond OEM, building skilled talent, end‑to‑end AI adoption, and strengthening logistics—and reported that 17 million units were exported from Vietnam via AGS in the past 12 months. City officials asked Amazon to support e‑commerce ecosystem development, digital training and smart‑city digital transformation, signaling coordinated public–private efforts to scale exports and modernize logistics ahead of increased Gulf and U.S. engagement.
Local Coverage: tuoitre.vn
From daily brief: 2025-11-28
10. AI Strategy Overhaul Sets Stage for National Supercomputing Hub and Dedicated AI Law by 2025
Vietnam is repositioning AI as national infrastructure with an updated AI Strategy and a standalone Artificial Intelligence Law planned by end‑2025, and immediate steps to build a National AI Supercomputing Center, open‑data ecosystems, and rapid “AI‑ization” across government and industry. The National Technology Innovation Fund will allocate 30–40% of resources to AI initiatives — including compute vouchers for SMEs — while policymakers push openness (standards, data, open source), risk‑based governance, transparency, and human‑in‑the‑loop controls alongside digital sovereignty through domestic infrastructure and Vietnamese‑language models.
A draft AI law under parliamentary review frames a flexible, risk‑based regime that classifies systems by risk, mandates transparency, independent testing, sandboxes, and allocates liability across developers, providers, deployers and users; technical rules would follow by decree. Deputies urged explicit prohibitions, clearer joint‑liability criteria and protections for privacy, children and vulnerable groups after a Nov. 27 debate highlighted a safety gap when an AI “diagnosis” led to a hospitalization in Ho Chi Minh City. The agenda targets scaling a 100‑million domestic tech market and “Make in Vietnam” AI products to boost productivity across health, education, agriculture, industry and transport.
Local Coverage: vietnamplus.vn, thanhnien.vn, vnexpress.net, tuoitre.vn, baotintuc.vn, com.vn
From daily briefs: 2025-11-28, 2025-12-03
About This Weekly Digest
The stories above represent the most significant developments from Vietnam this week, selected through our AI-powered analysis of hundreds of local news articles.
Stories are drawn from our daily intelligence briefs, which synthesize reporting from Vietnam's leading news sources to provide comprehensive situational awareness for international decision-makers.
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