Software industry plays an important role in accelerating the development of Da Nang’s information technology (IT) sector.

Employees at a local IT company

Most notably, 2017 saw positive results from software exports, thereby hopefully creating a momentum for the progress of the spearhead economic sector this year.

According to the latest statistics released by the municipal Department of Information and Communications, the city is now home to a total of 55 FDI projects involved in the IT sector, and these businesses together earned 67 million US$ in total from software exports last year.

Such city-based large domestic and foreign software businesses as FPT Software, Axon Active, Gameloft, LogiGear, MagRabbit, Global Cybersoft, Enclave and Asnet, have provided software outsourcing services for the Japanese, North American, and European markets. 

Over the past year, some IT companies started expanding their consumer markets into China, Singapore, Taiwan, and other Asian countries and territories.

Recent years have also seen a significant increase in the number of IT companies involved in the software and digital content sectors

The Da Nang Software Park, one of Viet Nam’s IT parks operating effectively, comprising of 2 buildings in the city’s downtown, is now home to a total of 76 IT businesses.

The park’s rental space is now fully occupied, and it has to date attracted investment inflows from the US, the UK, South Korea, Thailand and Japan.

However, one of the major challenges facing the local software industry is a severe shortage of high-quality IT employees, especially those who have foreign language proficiency, and other essential soft skills.  Therefore, local IT firms mainly involve in low-level software outsourcing services, and hence, they have yet to participate in the global software supply chain.

The municipal Department of Information and Communications is developing a plan for increasing the current number of IT employees from 24,500 as current to 39,100 by 2020, about 17,000 of whom work for software outsourcing services.

As for business premises-related issues, whilst the Da Nang Software Park 2 is now fully occupied, the dedicated IT Park project in Hoa Vang District’s Hoa Lien Commune is still underway. 

In particular, 80% of the construction work has to date been completed.  The city authorities are expected to grant investment licences for new projects at this venue by late this year.

Last year, in Ha Noi, leaders from the Da Nang People’s Committee and Singapore's Sembcorp Development Company together entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the deployment of the 15ha Software Park No 2 project at the Da Phuoc urban area.

Work will start on this project in the coming months of this year.

This strategic project will play a vital role in promoting the development of information and communications technology (ICT) sectors into one of the city’s spearhead economic ones.  This will match the city’s development orientation for furthering hi-tech industries and high-quality services, and turn the city into a smarter locality by 2020.

It is expected that the amount of business premises available for use will fully satisfy the demand of IT firms in either 2019 or 2020.