Smarter infrastructure design key to Vietnam s AI ambitions

Vietnam is rapidly emerging as a leading AI market in Southeast Asia. Country sales director for Sangfor Technologies in Vietnam, Jimmy Pham, notes that adoption of AI technologies is outpacing expectations in many sectors. He explains that for AI systems to operate effectively, centralized and secure data management is essential. Without it, even advanced AI infrastructure cannot deliver practical applications.

Pham highlights cost as a significant challenge for Vietnamese manufacturers, with rising prices for VMware licensing impacting their ability to sustain commercial operations. He also emphasizes the importance of power availability, stating that AI servers and GPUs require significantly more electricity than traditional workloads.

Sangfor Technologies cloud business director Keith Lee agrees that power could become a constraint for Vietnam, given AI's high electricity demands. However, he points out that Vietnam has strong power-generation fundamentals, including significant investments in renewable energy sources like solar and wind.

Lee stresses the need for energy-efficient infrastructure design, particularly in terms of cooling technologies and server utilisation. Distributing AI data centers across multiple locations can also improve resilience in the event of power disruptions.

Cybersecurity is another critical aspect of AI infrastructure development. Pham stresses that cybersecurity measures must be integrated from the outset of AI transformation projects. He notes that ransomware attacks can potentially compromise an organization's entire data environment, as well as the growing use of AI by cybercriminals to automate attacks.

To address these challenges, Lee recommends prioritizing protection of AI data, models, and application interfaces; strengthening identity and access management; network and system segmentation; and establishing immutable backups and disaster recovery capabilities. By taking a proactive approach to cybersecurity, organizations can better safeguard their AI investments and ensure the integrity of their data and systems.