Google believes application development and gaming will generate the greatest economic value from artificial intelligence in Vietnam over the next three to five years, thanks to the country's growing ability to export digital products to users worldwide.

Speaking at Google Marketing Live Southeast Asia 2026 in Singapore on July 7, Sapna Chadha, Vice President for Southeast Asia and South Asia at Google, said Vietnam's competitive advantage extends beyond its domestic market.

"Our view is that app and game development in Vietnam represents a tremendous opportunity, particularly the ability to 'export' products built in Vietnam to users around the world," she said.

AI lowering barriers for developers

Chadha said artificial intelligence is making digital product development more accessible by reducing costs and simplifying tasks that once required significant manpower.

Work such as producing images and videos or optimizing advertising campaigns can now be supported by generative AI, allowing smaller businesses to access capabilities that were previously available mainly to large corporations.

Google is expanding AI-powered features across its advertising platform to help businesses create content, build marketing campaigns and generate customer insights. According to Chadha, AI is designed to simplify workflows while leaving key business decisions in human hands.

Vietnam's app industry continues to expand

Google's assessment comes as Vietnam's app economy continues to post strong growth.

At the Google Apps Summit 2025, the company reported that Vietnam's gaming and app industry recorded 65% revenue growth in 2024, the highest rate in the Asia-Pacific region.

According to Google, citing AppMagic data, applications developed by Vietnamese programmers exceeded 6 billion downloads in 2024, including approximately 5.7 billion downloads from international users.

The Google Play ecosystem also helped Vietnamese developers generate more than VND2 trillion (US$77 million) in overseas revenue while supporting around 490,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Marc Woo, Managing Director of Google Vietnam, previously said Vietnam has evolved beyond an emerging market to become a "global app powerhouse."

He said the international success of Vietnamese developers demonstrates the country's potential to further expand its share of the global app market.

Du Lam