VietNamNet Bridge – While the demand for hi-tech products is very high on the domestic market, Vietnamese brad information technology (IT) products still cannot get a foothold on the lucrative market.

The statistics of international groups show that the software apps for mobile phones developed in Vietnam have been provided to billions of 3G service users worldwide. By 2015, one out of every 12 chips of Intel to be sold on the market is made in Vietnam. However, it is still a very difficult task to develop Vietnamese-brand products in the domestic market.

Barriers installed everywhere

According to Pham Tan Cong, Secretary General of the Vietnam Software Association (Vinasa), there have been very few Vietnamese IT products developed so far, though the demand is very big.

Regarding the hardware, some basic products assembled domestically have been well known in the market, but most of them have “foreign sources”. Meanwhile, only a few software products developed by Vietnamese firms have been accepted by clients.

A lot of reasons have been cited to blame the underdevelopment of Vietnamese hi-tech products. Vietnamese IT firms remain young and inexperienced, while they cannot access reasonable support policies from the State.

IT firms have been advised to target the clients in the state economic sector, where the competition is not too stiff, but the demand is high with different specific requirements for different projects in different fields. However, IT firms say that there are too many barriers in the state’s sector that they cannot overcome to obtain the projects.

Businesses prove to be a big market, but the market is very competitive, while Vietnamese products still have limitations. Individual consumer market proves to offer great potentials to both software and hardware, but the intellectual property infringement is really a big hindrance for IT firms’ products to develop.

Apps for mobile phones and online games prove to be lucrative business fields, but there also have not been Vietnamese products.

Businesses full of hardships

The current situation not only reflects the low capability of businesses themselves, but also points out that Vietnam still lacks a master plan on the development of the industry in the last 20 years.

According to Nguyen Phuoc Hai, Deputy Chair of the Vietnam Electronics Manufacturers’ Association, in minds of Vietnamese people, making hardware does not have the future, while the production just bases on the cheap labor force.

At present, businesses have to borrow money at sky high interest rates, while a paradox exists that the import tariffs on parts and accessories are higher than the tariffs on CBU (complete built units) imports.

Vo Thanh Tung, General Director of Hai Hoa Company, said that since 1995, the software modules developed by Hai Hoa and provided to foreign partners have been highly appreciated in terms of quality. However, it is really not easy to develop Vietnamese-brand products on the domestic market.

Domestic products refused by public projects as well

According to To Thi Thu Huong from the Information Technology Department of the Ministry of Information and Telecommunication, by November 30, 2011, 18 ministries and branches, and 55 provinces and cities had spent more than 856 billion dong to buy IT products, of which 50 percent had been spent on hardware.

The products they bought were mainly personal computers, fiber optic cables and copper cables. The products with high configuration and high technologies still cannot be made domestically. Therefore, domestic products were not the big choice for buyers who want high quality products for important information systems.

According to the department, public projects prove to be the best market for Vietnamese products. However, even in the market, domestic firms still cannot get a foothold.

Source: SGTT