Saigon Asset Management (SAM) plans to raise a $300-million fund to develop data centre projects across Vietnam, as the firm also launched a data centre campus on Tuesday.
The fund expects a first close by Q4 2025 and targets to invest the majority of its capital in SAM DigitalHub, a data centre project it has launched in partnership with Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP).
SAM DigitalHub will be located in VSIP 3 in Binh Duong, known as the industrial park town in Vietnam.
VSIP, a joint venture of Singapore’s Sembcorp and Vietnam-based Becamex IDC, is the largest industrial real estate operator in Vietnam. The partnership with VSIP secures SAM DigitalHub a 50-hectare, 150-megawatt capacity for its data centres, which anticipate a total investment cost of $1.5 billion.
The fund will invest in minority positions in each incoming data centre within the campus, according to Louis Nguyen, CEO of SAM. It also has the option to invest in other data centre projects.
Nguyen said this is a two-year effort after identifying locations in proximity to major urban centres and airports, reliable access to sustainable power sources and sufficient water for cooling, and connectivity to multiple telecommunications providers and reliable fibre networks.
“The three key obstacles that have deterred our hyperscaler clients from entering Vietnam are licensing, land, and power,” said Nguyen. “We saw significant trends where data centre demand was shifting from Singapore to other countries in the region. Our goal was to collaborate with as many end customers and partners as possible to address their concerns and provide a seamless entry point.”
The project has attracted Malaysian data centre solutions provider PMX as a stakeholder to support the design and operation.
Hyperscaler customers are interested in the Vietnam market; they want to work with operators who can ensure the three elements— licensing, land, and power—in place before entering the country, Nguyen said.
He revealed that SAM has fostered relationships with hyperscalers and large data centre providers such as AWS, Equinix, NTT, Keppel, Alibaba, and CTRLS.
“This is a very big opportunity, but we need the infrastructure ready. Having these hyperscaler clients will propel the digital sector in Vietnam,” he said.
“Singapore, the key data centre hub in Southeast Asia, has faced restrictions due to power and land shortages, leading to a spillover effect to Malaysia. Over the past three years, Malaysia has attracted over $25 billion in data centre investments but is now facing similar shortages,” Nguyen added on the opportunities for Vietnam to develop the data centre industry.
