2025-06-16: Setbacks Stall South Korea’s National AI Supercomputing Center Initiative
Surge in Digital Payments Reshapes Vietnam’s Financial Landscape
Good Morning,
Below are some of the most important developments in the artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and cloud computing sectors in Asia today.
▪️ Vietnam: Surge in Digital Payments Reshapes Vietnam’s Financial Landscape
Vietnam is rapidly expanding its digital payment infrastructure and adoption across the economy.
▪️ Taiwan: AI Investment Surge Drives Growth Across Hardware, Software, and Semiconductor Leaders
Artificial intelligence is reshaping the technology investment landscape as major players in hardware, software, and infrastructure draw strong investor interest.
▪️ South Korea: Setbacks Stall South Korea’s National AI Supercomputing Center Initiative
South Korea’s efforts to build an exaflops-capable AI data center have encountered significant obstacles.
▪️ South Korea: Samsung Adopts Femtosecond Laser Cutting to Advance High Bandwidth Memory Production
Semiconductor manufacturers are turning to femtosecond laser wafer cutting to enhance the production of high bandwidth memory.
▪️ Vietnam: Vietnam Accelerates AI Advancement with New Initiatives, Economic Goals, and Industry Collaboration
Vietnam is rapidly advancing its artificial intelligence capabilities to position itself as a regional hub for research, innovation, and economic growth.
▪️ China: Beijing Launches World’s First 4S Store for Embodied AI Robots in Robotics Industry Milestone
Beijing will inaugurate the world’s first 4S store for embodied AI robots in the Yizhuang robotics industrial park.
For more information on these developments, please see the full report below.
Thanks for reading,
Rodney J Johnson
Today's Developments
Widely Reported On Issues of Importance
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Surge in Digital Payments Reshapes Vietnam’s Financial Landscape
Vietnam is rapidly expanding its digital payment infrastructure and adoption across the economy.
In the first quarter of 2025, Vietnam processed 5.5 billion cashless transactions—82 percent through digital channels—totaling over 40 trillion VND.
This growth places the country alongside Thailand and ahead of China in digital transaction volume. Between Q4 2022 and Q4 2024, cashless payments grew at a compound annual rate of 92 percent.
Mobile wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, together with card-based methods, now account for 60 percent of all cashless payments.
About 87 percent of Vietnamese adults hold bank accounts, with urban centers leading the way. In Ho Chi Minh City alone, the banking system averages nearly 820,000 transactions per day.
Cashless payment systems boost the efficiency of banking and financial sectors, increase transparency in economic management, and strengthen national competitiveness.
The State Bank of Vietnam emphasizes their role in reinforcing financial management and driving the expansion of digital services. To secure transactions in high-risk environments, financial institutions are deploying artificial intelligence for fraud detection and customer experience improvements; one bank reports that AI-driven systems have markedly reduced fraud risks in both digital and card payments.
Government leaders say that fast, secure digital payments support broader digital economic growth and improve cash flow transparency in e-commerce.
They point to cybersecurity vulnerabilities and personal data protection gaps as key barriers, calling for stronger institutional frameworks and policies to enable innovative payment models while safeguarding user data.
Despite the surge in digital payments, 77.5 percent of consumers still opt for cash on delivery, reflecting ingrained cash habits.
Rural areas face inadequate technological infrastructure and a rise in high-tech crime. In response, the State Bank is collaborating with commercial banks and payment intermediaries to develop technological defenses against cyber threats.
Vietnamese officials are examining international practices to accelerate cashless adoption.
Drawing on South Korea’s example, where cash payments have fallen to 15.9 percent, they are considering personal income tax deductions for digital transactions. They also plan inter-sectoral cooperation and localized training programs to help small and medium-sized enterprises transition to cashless operations.
IMPACT ANALYSIS
From this Development, various impacts could cascade through the system, to a lesser or greater extent, depending on the severity and criticality of the shocks.
BOTTOM LINE
Vietnam’s leap to 5.5 billion cashless transactions in Q1 2025 reflects the rapid rollout of high-speed broadband and widespread mobile-wallet adoption, which is boosting consumer convenience and driving e-commerce expansion.
The deployment of AI-driven fraud-detection systems by major banks has significantly reduced payment losses, strengthening public trust in digital channels and encouraging more households and businesses to shift away from cash.
Modernized payment-system architectures and tougher cyber-resilience requirements are cutting settlement failures and enabling banks to free up liquidity, thereby increasing credit availability and supporting above-trend growth in business fixed investment.
Deeply ingrained cash-on-delivery habits—favored by 77.5 percent of consumers—underscore cultural resistance and highlight the need for targeted infrastructure upgrades and SME training in rural areas to achieve fuller digital-payment penetration.
Policymakers are studying South Korea’s success in driving down cash usage to consider tax incentives for digital transactions and to foster interagency collaboration, though stronger data-protection measures must accompany any new incentives to maintain user confidence.
As enterprises emulate banks’ AI investments, workforce digital skills are rising, lifting labor productivity and catalyzing further corporate investment in automation and analytics tools—an emerging virtuous cycle that enhances national competitiveness.
A failure to bridge the rural connectivity gap and to counter escalating cyber threats could lead to pockets of financial exclusion, reputational damage for the banking sector, tighter regulatory oversight, and a slowdown in private-sector lending.
Collaborative efforts between the State Bank, commercial banks, and payment platforms to bolster cybersecurity and personal-data safeguards are critical for sustaining the momentum of Vietnam’s digital-economy transformation.
References for this Development
5,5 tỷ lượt giao dịch thanh toán không tiền mặt trong một quý
5.5 billion cashless payment transactions in one quarter
VN Express | Local Language | News
Phó Thủ tướng yêu cầu sớm hoàn thiện thể chế để phát triển thanh toán số
Deputy Prime Minister requests early completion of institutions to develop digital payments
Dantri | Local Language | News
100% các giao dịch trên nền tảng thương mại điện tử có hoá đơn điện tử
100% of transactions on e-commerce platforms have electronic invoices
VTV News | Local Language | News
Bộ trưởng KH&CN nêu 5 nhóm giải pháp hỗ trợ chính quyền địa phương 2 cấp bằng công nghệ số
Bao Dien Tu | Local Language | News
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