A report found that Vietnam’s security camera market had value of $175 million in 2023, 90 percent of which were made by Chinese Dahua and Hikvision. The other products were also made in China, bearing less strong brands.

The figures may give many people a start, because this means risks about personal information leakage as servers are located abroad. Experts all stressed that it is necessary to take action to regain the home market.

On May 7, the Ministry of Information and Communications released basic cybersecurity criteria for surveillance cameras. The criteria have been applauded by manufacturers and are believed to improve the competitiveness of Make in Vietnam products against foreign rivals.

Nguyen Dang Trien from Viettel Telecom said camera production and service costs depend on the volume of products in the market. If every manufacturer only has a limited volume of cameras, it will be impossible to compete with large suppliers, even when the criteria have been set. 

Therefore, he suggested setting up an association or a club of camera manufacturers in which members share knowledge and information to be sure that their camera products, once hitting the market, can satisfy all requirements and have high level of competitiveness.

Nguyen Tuan Anh, president of Lumi, said that after meeting criteria and standards, manufacturers need to persuade people to buy products. Once manufacturers share the same platform, the cost to develop cameras and solutions will be much lower.

“If we want our products to become more competitive, we need to make our contribution to researching and developing technology, or certain platforms to share development costs with each other,” Anh said.

Vconnex CEO Nguyen Duc Quy also thinks that to cut production costs, it would be better to join forces with each other to promote the strengths of each member. China, for example, develops products with just one or two platforms and each company undertakes the works in which it has advantages.

Meanwhile, according to Vo Duc Tho, CEO of Hanet Technology, Chinese products are cheap because Chinese companies make products in large quantities of up to millions. Therefore, it is difficult for Vietnam’s products to compete in price. In this case, it would be better to choose niche markets, such as using AI in cameras and doing things that foreign companies don’t do.

Nguyen Trung Kien, CEO of Pavana, suggested setting up a club of camera manufacturers under the National Cybersecurity Association.

Trong Dat