【日本・ベトナム新時代へ】知られざる急成長IT企業／オフショア開発／20期連続売上増加／ベトナムの国家戦略／FPT／ベトナムのコングロマリット／大学も運営／地政学的リスク

Vietnam so become the first choice after China. FBT Japan is growing so fast. How fast is fast?

Could you tell us the numbers? Within the last 15 year we grow 27% per year continuously and this year we target 31%. We have a target to become the kind of the sen.

I've heard that strong internal education pipeline are in your system. Yeah. Yeah.

In Vietnam so far. So APD is the first company can do that. We set up the university at the moment is a big private university in Vietnam and graduated every year should be 10,000 something.

One third of that join. The huge number of the IT engineer we can't train by ourself. Mhm.

In FT education system it depend on the sector and segment. We quite independent to produce the resource that we need. What are the advantages of having teams like across all over the world?

Justice client needs. We want to respond to customer in 2 hour when they call for needs. Okay.

24/7 is mandatory. holiday Christmas. Japan.

So let me start with a few simple questions to get to know you and FBT Japan. My pleasure. Thank you very much.

So what I mean like where are you from first? I'm from Vietnam actually. Uh I'm grow up from the northern part of Vietnam is so in Japanese is a Toku of Hanoi.

Okay. Yeah. And uh I'm graduated from the Hanoi University of Technology as a engineer of the computer science.

and and then I I joined AP as a software developer. I stay in AP from the that's until now is already 22 years. Wow.

You've been like in the IT industry for entire your life. Yeah. Actually before IP and even in the student lifetime already I work uh in Japanese is Arab.

Oh really? work and uh I got money to to to cover my tuition and my life from my third year student and so regarding the software development uh experience I may say is a 27 year okay 27 years is a long time because I am 28 years old so maybe it's the you know same age you know thank you very much for sharing your story and then I would like to ask you about the FBT itself I I know FBT is the largest IT company in Vietnam, right? But for viewers that are who are not familiar with the FBT, the name of it.

Uh could you elaborate on the overview of the company? Okay. So, uh FPT in Vietnam uh we are group of the diversity company.

So, we have uh four sector. So FPT retail, uh FPT telecom, FPT education and FP software sector and we I myself I'm from the FPT software. Okay.

And uh in FP group we have uh 80,000 people,00 all over the world and FPD software uh contribute almost half of the uh people. So now we have uh 36,000 people distributed in the 30 country 30 countries around the world and of course the largest pay is in Vietnam we have four campus in Hanoi Danang Ho Chi Ming and Ker also other small campus is added and in Japan we now we have more than thousand engineer plus a partner so partner so in Japan is similar to hakin or the people who being dispatched suko from other company to PT. So the total workforce now in Japan is 4,500.

Yeah, that's a quite number. We try our best. Yeah, it is a big company but maybe people are not really familiar with the you know all the details about it and I want to ask you about what exactly FBT does FBT do in IT industry like can you like you know handle everything or do you focus on certain areas?

Yeah. So frankly speaking the FPD software we uh have uh uh purposed to become uh the the one level oneass IT service provider. So uh we do everything from now we we t from the consulting level uh to kind the uh requirement definition uh until the operation of the system.

So we provide the software development end to end and we provide the system maintenance and operation for the application in infra. Okay. Yeah.

Okay. So you do you can do everything but like yeah we want to do so everything means that mean every upstream to downstream but like you can like adapt flexibility to um clients need right okay so um I'd like to elaborate more about the FBT's presence here in Japan could you tell me about the number about the revenue and FBT Japan is growing so fast like could you elaborate on that? So yeah, thank to the uh customer support and thank to the good relationship between Japan and Vietnam as a country to country uh within the last 15 year we grow 27% per year continuously.

So for reason three year after covid yes we grow in average 40% every year and this year we target it uh 31%. Wow. Yeah it's very difficult and challenging but I believe that customer and Japanese company is supporting us.

We have to do that. Yeah. Okay.

To explore today's theme we prepare some key topics. So let's go dive in. So firstly, let's begin with the key challenge many companies in Japan are facing right now.

It's the shortage of IT talent. What's your take on that? Yeah, I agree.

So Japanese as a country shortage of the labor, not just IT resource. So every year Japanese reduce almost 1 million people. In Vietnamese country, we increase 1 million.

Exactly. Yeah, regarding the IT in compared to China and India, we are small country but also we have 500,000 software engineer in Vietnam and every year university from Vietnam we add it. I mean the graduated new student new IT engineer graduate is about 50,000 per year.

So with that kind of the uh good win from the people in Vietnam they want to join the IT software carrier they take that first priority uh when they consider university. So I believe that Vietnam have a good position in the future regarding the software and IT service in the world. When I think of Vietnam, I kind of imagine a manufacturing base first place, but it's no longer that like it's already changing changing into the digital have is it?

Yes. So actually still right now uh as a country. Yeah.

We still want to be the manufacturing base but the manufacturing level also is kind of the innovated. So before is a kind the textile right the gin textile and now is a kind that we assemble the iPhone iPad and also there are a lot of the semiconductor factory being set up and operate in Vietnam. We have a Intel.

So Intel for example they already operate in Vietnam for 15 I think more than 15 years. Yeah. And every year they export a lot billions of US dollar.

So high level cheap to other countries. And I'd like to ask you about this one. The US tariffs so how do the US tariffs affect on feed or it's terrible.

It's terrible. I think so. Uh but I believe that so US or other country they should grow right.

So if US make benefit to the grow country everything will be settled down by kind of the negotiation. No one need war right. So and I believe that for anything Japan as a country is a one of the very important allian of the USA in the Asia.

So they will not harm they will not harm the Japanese company. M we afraid of the Vietnamese people being kind of the unemployment something like that. Yeah.

Because Vietnam so far is a kind the manufacturing hub for the reason. Mhm. But for it is different.

So I think we can take advantage. Yes. It's different.

They have to take the cheaper result faster and more flexibility. So every will be ready for that. Vietnam is already in the middle of IT industry right now.

Yes, I agree. Yeah. So, uh next to China, India.

So, we would like to bring Vietnam to be next destination for the IT outsourcing destination. Yeah. Great.

So, you mentioned about India and China. I'd like to ask you about this. So I think many Japanese companies have experience working with China and India but in your perspective like what makes Vietnam an attractive alternative for offshore development?

Yes. So uh let's look at the number. So I think for Japanese company maybe the China is the first outsourcing destination and the second maybe India.

Yeah. But uh you see so now day there are political risks. Exactly.

And uh of course the cost in China is increased so fast. The ZDB when Japanese company outsold to China GDB should be the I think 8,000 US dollar per person but now is almost uh 17 double. So for Vietnam the ZDB is less than 5,000 per person per year.

So in term of the cost merit we have a hu competitive factor. Mhm. Vietnam so become the first choice after China and now day with the geopolitical risk.

Yes. maybe no more so important kind of the software demon or the m can't be done in China anymore because of the security because of the cost increasing you could say that and like when I think of the Japan itself like some Japanese companies might wonder like with the yen it's so weak right now is offshore still cost effective what would you say to that? Yeah.

So regarding your cost uh so far uh we already experienced three year of the getting cheaper and cheaper but I believe that is a temporary. So in the long run if the key cheaper in can boost up Japanese economy that means the IT budget from all the big enterprise Japan also increase and the benefit for the IT service company like EPD and now we take advantage of that we have to improve our productivity and quality. So we accept the yen is getting cheaper.

Uh we can take advantage to increase our re revenue faster. Even the profit is not much. That is I think is a win-win relationship between the supplier and the end user.

I know that cost isn't everything and of course you said you mentioned about quality. I'd like to ask you about the skills as well. So when it comes to skill, can Japanese companies trust the skill of Vietnamese engineers?

What would you say to that? Okay. So for the 25 year working with Japanese client so we already we have a 22nd year anniversary with Hitachi.

We have a 10 year anniversary with the dozen of the Japanese client. That mean the trust in FT and just in our quality and so we not just to develop the downstream sector for German client but we operate the whole system it's end to end and that continue being done by FT for 10 years that can show how quality EP can provide to Japanese client. So there is this huge truck record that you worked with a lot of companies right?

Yes. So let me share one more point. We not just doing alone.

We learned from Japanese local company. We partnership with them. So we do a mutual investment between EP and the local company.

We do a joint venture. So we already have a joint venture with Kunika Minota with the sub company of Tota. and the future we have joint venture with SBI holding with SCK.

Yeah, it's coming. So we announced also a lot of kind of the MOU partnership between FPD and the Japanese local uh maker or the software SI. Okay.

So we're building a win-win relationship like during this entire 10 or 15 years, right? And then we talked about cost and skills. I'd like to talk about the culture as well, the business mindset.

Do you think that we have any differences between Vietnam and Japan? Of course. Do we are different?

Okay. And Japanese mindset and mindset about quality I think is number one in the world. Oh, really?

So that maybe one of the reason that Japanese product being well known to own the country. I can share one story. So do you know in Vietnam?

So how people con the motorbike? Mhm. No.

So so in Vietnam I can say I have one BMW Honda. BMW Honda. That means Honda mean motorbike.

So motorbike mean Honda. Honda. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. So Vietnamese people from the 1980 already name motorbike mean Honda.

I have one Suzuki Honda. I have one BMW Honda. So job product become the name exactly of the city of the kind of the things in Vietnam.

Okay. So that's how like Japanese and like Vietnam is like so deeply connected to each other. Yeah.

So is regarding the culture. So uh you can see the food. So the taste of Vietnamese food and Japanese foods is something similar.

And uh all Vietnamese people love Japanese food. Only one point. It's expensive.

Yeah, I could say that. And Japanese people is well planned while Vietnamese is more h flexible. Oh yeah.

Agility. And so everything in Japan should be well planned, well set up and have to be done in a template. It too much into template.

It may slow down the time go to market. So Vietnamese engineer, jang engineer, we have a flexibility. So in Japanese is right and we can have adapt we can't uh how say respond to the change require of the market faster.

That's why the FT and the Japanese client can best match. We have the win-win relationship and we complement each other in culture so that we can work together in IT industry. Right.

I believe. Yeah. And then now let's take a closer look at FBT itself.

As I said FBT has been expanding so rapidly but how fast is fast? Could you tell us the numbers because I'd like to understand more about the scales. So uh already I mentioned so first is the size the number of engineer FP have in Japan is more than 4,000 among that is uh 35% is Japanese expert and SE soften engineer and beside we have other expert from China from Korean from the Singapore Malaysia also working in Japan on the other hand the number of people in Vietnam working for Japanese customer is uh 11,000 people.

Wow. Yeah. So to totally uh contribute to our revenue this year we expect more than 900 y in for 2025 and uh we have a target to become the kind of the sen revenue company maybe this year or next year.

So thank to the customer. So let's see how FPD try ourself to reach this target. Yeah.

Wow. That's a quite number again but what do you think of the key factors behind this expansion? What's the key factors?

I think for the Japanese as a country lack of people, lack of it resources and uh in Vietnam uh in FYT we find a way to join with Japanese customer. So at first Japanese is not our choice first. So every country like to go to America.

So and so we try to set up in US first. Mhm. We fail from 2000 and then we have some meeting with the Japanese first customer is Hitachi entity IT.

We find the model that FT software engineer can work with English. So we create a new job IT communicator that people have to translate Japanese had to transfer the requirement from customer to FPD. Mhm.

And then uh we come up with a kind of the new ro in Japan. We name is a p software engineer. So the people who work and stay in the customer side h discuss with the customer about the requirement and about the needs transfers us to Vietnam and then uh we make design we make a software development.

We make a testing we deliver the packet to the customer. People in here can again check the report, check product and dispare to the customer is final knowhing. That's how you support your team and clients to like you know work together, right?

Like with the you know langu language boundaries like those walls are like over it. Yeah. Yeah.

And then you said that uh I mean I've heard that strong internal education pipeline are in your system. Yeah. Yeah.

Could you elaborate on that? That is the important factor and in Vietnam so far so is the first company can do that. So we set up the university and uh at the moment is a big private university in Vietnam.

So total number of the student is uh almost 45,000 and graduated every year should be 10,000 something. Wow. Yeah.

And oneird of that joy. M what so it's going to I can't collulate the number but it's a lot of m yeah so the huge number of the IT engineer we can't train by ourself in a education system and of course we recruit the student from other well-known university we have a Japanese school in Vietnam and and also here in Japan we have one Japanese school in Nipuri Nipuri yeah so every year so that school can teach can provide the Japanese training for about 300 people. We don't really see that often in Japan to like you know invest so deeply in talent development like why did you like you know make the university in the company itself.

Yeah. So two purpose. So our founder think first we have to uh create engineer by ourself.

We understand customer needs. We understand how to influence to the university curriculum. For that other point we can change by ourself.

So the curriculum can be imported from the America, from India, from Japan. It depend on the uh sector and segment. So uh we quite independent to produce the result that we need and we think that for customer uh they need they lack a resort right they only trust on the company who can self prepare result who can have a kind of provide the cost merit in future if the people work too long and become senior but the job doesn't need we need other people to replace with a better uh cost marriage but still keep quality.

That why FPT set up our ed education system. That's why you mentioned about the cost and the skills. Oh, I totally get it.

And beyond the talent, FPT has offices in over 30 countries you said. So what are the advantages of having teams like across all over the world just is the client needs. So our philosophy is stay closer to the customer.

For example, for Japanese, you see Japanese product is popular all over the world. The factory is all over the world in America, in Europe, in Mexico, in China and in Asia, Southeast Asia. So our base in also in different area in order to respond to the customer faster.

So we want to respond to customer in two hour when they call for needs. Okay. And we have to support customer in the time zone that they operate.

We have to speak the same language as customer in that country. Wow. So So you can support clients 24/7.

Of course, 20 24/7 is a mandatory. Wow. If if you go to India and Philippine, there are 100,000 of people work in the night shift.

So in Vietnam also getting more popular. That's how you build the trust between those countries. Is it?

Yeah. And finally, from your perspective, can FBT and Japanese companies become partners, true partners, not just outsourcing? What do you say?

Of course, we will become two partner and we are become true partner already as I mentioned. So apt have joy venture with different big company like with Kunika Minota with coming with SK with SBI with oki okeni and with sub company of Toyota also we have a mutual investment and another point is we adapt the prenit culture we not just prepare result ourself we exchange the results so there are 300 people from other company work for PT On the other hand, we also dispatch our almost similar number of our engineer to other company in the in the form for formula of the hakin or the suko. So we're already a partner I mean true partner to like innovate this IT industry and in Japan and Vietnam.

I get it also we we so we try to uh support customer to promote their product in Vietnam. So for Konika also we promote their printer. For OKA we want to promote their ATM in Vietnam.

Yeah that's that kind of example. We want to have a win-win relationship between the FPD and partner. Okay.

So you treasured win-win relationship the most. I I totally get it. And now let's now turn to the future.

So with the world changing so rapidly, what's ahead for FBT and Vietnam? Okay. So everyone know about the new trend of the AI and automation.

Yes. That bring a lot of threat and also opportunity to FPT. So so far we take that as the opportunity.

We have AI factory means Nvidia GPU center in Vietnam. So such kind of the investment for the AI. We believe that if AI can't uh support developer doing faster, we have to follow that.

If AI get the job from us, we have to so say innovate ourself in order to adapt with the new job new job that being created by AI like prompt engineer for example like adopt AI to have that kind of low code or no code kind of software development. So you mentioned about GPU. I've heard that you're working with Nvidia as well.

Could you elaborate on that? Yes. So FPT corporation uh is one of the uh Nvidia elite cloud provider.

The name is NCP and uh without NCP we have a priority to import the GPU from the Nvidia. We could say that you all are the lifeline of the AI is it? We have to because in Vietnam we are one of five leader and uh if we want to go along go far with the customer we have to pioneer together with them.

Thank you very much. And now finally is there anything you like to share with the Japanese business leaders that are watching this show? Oh it's my pleasure.

So yeah actually we are the from the beginning we are Vietnamese company. So so far the our philosophy is to be partnership with the Japanese SI and Japanese local ana. I believe that FPT with our kind passionate agility and young talent.

So on the uh so ambit people eager to learn the new technology, we can support uh Japanese client uh to develop uh the new software system faster to transform their legacy system from cobon to cloud and also uh to join with them in the new journey AI journey from the legacy to the AI and cloud in the future. and please uh just in a uh let's us join hand with uh Japanese IT company to uh speed up the uh digitalization for Japanese enterprise. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much. I hope so. Yeah, I hope we will be like having another discussion next time and we would like to elaborate more about your company and your future and about Vietnam and Japan.

Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Yeah.