The science and technology industry collected nearly 500,000 billion VND in January

According to statistics from the Ministry of Science and Technology, the industry’s contribution to GDP growth in January is estimated at 124,065 billion VND, an increase of 33.3% compared to January 2025.

Revenue, GDP contribution and industry scale all increased, setting the stage for the full year’s results. Previously, in 2025, the industry’s revenue reached 5 million 465 trillion VND, an increase of 25% compared to 2024, directly contributing to GDP reaching 1 million 400 trillion VND.

The revenue of nearly 500,000 billion VND in the first month of the year reflects the increasingly expanding scale of operations of the science and technology industry. The total workforce in the industry is currently more than 2.38 million people, the scientific research and technology development force is 207,838 people.

In terms of structure, the digital technology industry is a field with a large number of businesses with more than 80,000 operating businesses. Of these, over 2,000 businesses have expanded into foreign markets. Many domestic digital technology enterprises are also gradually participating more deeply in the value chain, from research, design to production. Some develop strategic technology products, instead of just providing services or outsourcing like the previous period.

In fact, science and technology activities take place rapidly in the first month of the year. In mid-January, Viettel started construction of the first chip manufacturing factory following the 32 nm process in Hoa Lac High-Tech Park, with plans for trial production from 2028. Two weeks later, FPT established an advanced semiconductor chip packaging and testing factory in Bac Ninh, expected to operate this year.

At the conference on economic growth in July 2025, Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung said that the “trinity” of science and technology, innovation, and digital transformation needs to contribute at least 50% to GDP growth. Meaning, if Vietnam’s GDP increases by 10%, science and technology, innovation and digital transformation can contribute 5%.

According to the Minister, in the above structure, science and technology need to contribute about 1%, with the method of commercializing research results and bringing them into businesses to create new products and revenue.

The Ministry will innovate the way of allocating budget and evaluating research topics and tasks. Accordingly, one dong spent on research needs to generate 10 dong of indirect revenue. With 25,000 billion VND spent on research and development, the goal is to generate 250,000 billion VND in revenue. The added value ratio is set at 40-50%. Thus, the value created for GDP corresponds to about 100,000-125,000 billion VND, about 1% of GDP.

With innovation, the goal is to contribute 3%. This is done by supporting businesses to apply, innovate, receive technology transfer and improve the efficiency of technology use.

According to the Minister, the way to do this is that the State will support loan interest rates for technology innovation investments, which can be up to 50% interest rate, taken from the Technology Innovation Fund. One year, the state will spend 25,000 billion to support businesses to innovate, to increase labor productivity, increase TFP (total factor productivity), increase output and new products.

Meanwhile, digital transformation is determined to contribute 1% of GDP growth. One of the specific solutions is to double mobile speeds. According to international research, as mobile speed increases, economic growth, especially the digital economy, also increases. Doubling mobile speeds could increase GDP by at least 1%.

The message that science and technology need to create specific results was reiterated by the Minister at the Conference summarizing the work in 2025 and implementing tasks in 2026 of the Ministry of Science and Technology at the end of December 2025. Accordingly, 2026 is determined to be the “year of acceleration” in implementing Resolution 57, shifting the focus from institution building to “creating real, measurable and widespread results”, affecting economic growth and people’s quality of life.

The Ministry of Science and Technology will focus resources on a number of national key areas, instead of spreading them widely. Each field will select key tasks, have clear output products and have a responsible individual. At the same time, the Ministry will propose that the Government transfer science and technology to the economic – industrial – technological sector, instead of the cultural – social sector as currently. The block transfer is not only an administrative decision but also marks a change in industry development thinking.