FPT and Dell Technologies Partner with Thai Nguyen Province to Advance the Low-Altitude Economy and High-Tech Development

As digital transformation and artificial intelligence (AI) continue to reshape economies worldwide, many localities across Vietnam are accelerating their transition toward data-driven, technology-led growth models. In response to this trend, the Thai Nguyen Department of Science and Technology, in collaboration with FPT Corporation and Dell Technologies, organized the seminar "Science, Technology and Digital Transformation – Driving Forces for Thai Nguyen's Development." The event aims to support Thai Nguyen's ambition of becoming one of Northern Vietnam's emerging technology growth hubs.

Delegates attend the seminar.

Held on the morning of July 30, the seminar welcomed Mr. Hoang Van Thien, Member of the Provincial Party Committee and Director of the Thai Nguyen Department of Science and Technology; Mr. Duong Hoang Hong, Deputy Commander of the Thai Nguyen Provincial Military Command; Mr. Tran Van Long, Deputy Director of the Department of Construction; Mr. Trieu Duc Van, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment; along with representatives from provincial departments and agencies, including Science and Technology, Industry and Trade, Health, Culture, Sports and Tourism, Public Security, the Provincial Military Command, the Management Board of Special-Use and Protection Forests, cooperatives, and leaders of communes and wards across Thai Nguyen Province.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Hoang Van Thien, Member of the Provincial Party Committee and Director of the Department of Science and Technology, emphasized that Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW identifies science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation as key drivers of economic growth and as the foundation for Vietnam's next stage of development.

Regarding the development of the low-altitude economy, he noted that Thai Nguyen has issued Decision No. 1334/QD-UBND approving an investment attraction plan for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) manufacturing facilities while also studying regulatory sandbox mechanisms for emerging technologies.

"This is a new field with tremendous potential," Mr. Thien said, expressing confidence that the seminar would generate practical recommendations for the province. 

Thai Nguyen is undergoing a significant transformation—from a traditional industrial province into a high-tech growth center focusing on strategic sectors such as semiconductors, chip manufacturing, robotics, new energy, and data centers.

The province has expanded its development plan to include 11 industrial parks and one centralized information technology park, covering approximately 4,245 hectares. Among them, the Yen Binh Digital Technology Park is expected to become a strategic destination for high-tech investment projects.

In parallel, Thai Nguyen has also approved a provincial strategy to develop the low-altitude economy and UAV manufacturing, translating the objectives of Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW into concrete action.

Representing FPT, Mr. Pham Minh Tuan, Deputy Director of Digital Government Solutions, Government Sector, FPT IS, FPT Corporation, said the Group is focusing on mastering five strategic technologies: Quantum AI, cybersecurity, UAVs, data, and railway technologies.

He also introduced FPT CASAN, FPT's AI-Native maturity framework, which defines five levels of AI maturity to help governments, organizations, and businesses assess their current capabilities and develop appropriate AI transformation roadmaps.

"From digital governance and smart cities to the digital economy, green transformation, and AI transformation, we have built a comprehensive technology ecosystem to support local governments throughout every stage of their digital transformation journey," Mr. Tuan said.

Representatives from Dell Technologies revealed that the company is considering establishing an additional manufacturing facility in Vietnam, with Thai Nguyen identified as one of the potential locations.

Dell also reaffirmed its long-term commitment to Vietnam while highlighting strategic investment priorities in technologies such as AI and quantum computing.

Throughout the seminar, experts from FPT and Dell Technologies presented a range of solutions for smart urban governance, digital agriculture, and data infrastructure, all aimed at building an integrated digital foundation for Thai Nguyen Province.

Addressing the limitations of manual urban management and the high cost and complexity of deploying fixed surveillance cameras, Mr. Dang Van Diem, Digital Government Solutions Consultant at FPT IS, introduced UrbanEye, FPT's smart urban monitoring and management solution for Thai Nguyen.

As part of FPT's digital transformation ecosystem, UrbanEye supports the development of digital government and smart cities. Instead of relying on fixed cameras, the solution deploys 360-degree AI cameras mounted on buses and other public vehicles. Combined with an AI Box powered by NVIDIA chips, the system continuously collects data, automatically detects traffic congestion and infrastructure issues, and sends real-time reports to the city's operation center.

The seminar also highlighted the role of UAV technology in reducing labor costs in agriculture.

Drawing on international experience, Mr. Le Van Hung, Government Consulting Director at FPT IS, noted that agricultural drones in Japan have reduced labor costs by up to 50% amid an aging population, while AI-enabled drones in the United States are being used to map crop diseases and perform precision spraying based on geolocation.

For Thai Nguyen's tea industry in particular, FPT introduced UAV-based solutions already deployed in Nghe An Province across more than 10,000 hectares, reducing spraying costs from VND 1.8 million to VND 800,000 per hectare while lowering pesticide usage by 30%.

Building on these results, FPT proposed a three-phase roadmap for Thai Nguyen:

• Conduct free pilot spraying on one to three hectares;
• Expand deployment to key tea-growing regions; and
• Integrate UAV monitoring data into the province's Tea Data Center, supporting the goal of increasing the tea industry's value to VND 25 trillion by 2030.

The seminar also emphasized that a shared provincial data platform, rather than fragmented investments in isolated systems, is essential for enabling data-driven governance.

This topic was presented by Mr. Pham Van Ngoc, Product and Solutions Sales Director at Dell Technologies Vietnam, who introduced Dell's reference architecture for provincial-level data platforms.

According to Mr. Ngoc, the low-altitude economy represents an ideal application scenario for such an architecture. UAV-generated aerial imagery, video, and agricultural mapping data require large-scale, AI-ready storage infrastructure.

Dell proposed a three-stage implementation roadmap, beginning with infrastructure assessment, followed by centralized storage deployment, and eventually expanding to high-value AI applications such as digital agriculture and the low-altitude economy.

Within this collaboration model, Dell Technologies provides the infrastructure and data platform, while FPT develops applications and delivers industry-specific implementation.

In his closing remarks, Mr. Pham Minh Tuan reaffirmed FPT's commitment to investing in research and development of emerging technologies, noting that the company only requires suitable testing sites and strong collaboration from local authorities to pilot and scale new innovations.

He emphasized that the seminar represents the beginning—not the conclusion—of deeper cooperation between FPT and Thai Nguyen Province in science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation.

FPT and Dell Technologies reaffirmed their commitment to accompanying Thai Nguyen throughout its comprehensive digital transformation journey.

Prior to this initiative, FPT and Thai Nguyen had already collaborated on education and digital workforce development. Building on that foundation, FPT looks forward to working with the province to deploy practical technology solutions spanning smart cities, data infrastructure in partnership with Dell Technologies, UAV applications, and digital talent development—contributing to Thai Nguyen's vision of becoming a new technology growth hub in Northern Vietnam.