Cloud Computing Company in Vietnam: Foreign Ownership, Structures, and Setup

Vietnam's cloud computing market is on track to pass USD 6 billion by 2030. To meet this demand, the country updated its Telecommunications Law in 2024 to allow foreign investors own cloud and data center companies outright. 

This means you no longer need a local joint venture partner to launch, scale, or host your infrastructure in the country. If you are looking to enter the market, you can set up a fully foreign-owned cloud computing company in Vietnam.

Foreign Ownership Rules in Vietnam's Cloud Sector

Foreign investors can hold 100% of a cloud or data centre business in Vietnam. The change came through Telecommunications Law No. 24/2023/QH15, which took effect on 1 July 2024, with the provisions covering data centres, cloud computing, and over-the-top services applying from 1 January 2025.

The law brought these services into the telecom framework for the first time. However, it classified them as value-added activities rather than as restricted infrastructure, which is why no local partner is required.

The restriction that remains applies to physical network infrastructure. The internet backbone, meaning subsea fibre optic cables, cable landing stations, national trunklines, and cell towers, stays with state-backed operators such as Viettel and VNPT, where foreign equity is capped between 49% and 65%.

For most SaaS and cloud operators, however, this is a non-issue. You don’t need to lay underground fiber to run a cloud business. Instead, you buy IP transit and bandwidth from local telcos the same way you buy utility power. Everything above that network pipe, including your bare metal servers, rack space, proprietary code, databases, and customer IP, remains entirely yours.

Classifying your business activities

During corporate registration, you will select industry codes from Vietnam's standard classification system, known as VSIC codes. These codes define your permitted business scope, and they also determine how much of the company you can own.

 If your legal scope is written too broadly or sounds like a traditional internet service provider, authorities can flag your application under restricted telecom rules.

Selling Into Vietnam: Local Entity or Offshore

How you collect revenue in Vietnam depends on whether you operate through a local entity or sell cross-border from outside the country. This affects how you invoice clients, taxes that apply, and whether your Vietnamese customers face withholding obligations when they pay you.

1. If you are a local entity (100% foreign-owned)

A fully foreign-owned company in Vietnam gives you the most direct commercial route. You can invoice clients in local currency (VND), accept domestic bank transfers, and handle your own taxes. This eliminates tax withholding headaches for your buyers, keeping your sales cycles fast and your contracts easy to close.

A local tax ID is also mandatory if you want to land government contracts or deals with state-backed enterprises. This includes everything from provincial cloud migrations to hybrid cloud projects for local semiconductor and electronics manufacturers.

A local setup also benefits from meaningful tax incentives and operational perks:

• Lower Corporate Income Taxes: High-tech cloud and data center operations can cut their corporate tax rate from 20 percent down to 10 percent for up to 15 years. This includes up to four years of zero tax followed by nine years at half off.
• VAT Treatment: Standard cloud hosting, colocation, and server rentals carry a 10% VAT rate. However, proprietary software and SaaS features are completely VAT-exempt.
• Import Duty Exemptions: Hardware, bare-metal servers, power systems, and specialized cooling infrastructure imported to establish fixed assets for eligible projects are exempt from import tariffs.
• Land Rent & Zone Benefits: Projects established within designated High-Tech Parks or Digital Technology Parks (DTPs) can access full or partial land-rent exemptions and streamlined administrative approvals.

2. If you are an offshore provider

You can sell cloud services into Vietnam without setting up a local entity, but it changes how revenue flows. When a Vietnamese enterprise client pays an offshore provider, the client is required to withhold Foreign Contractor Tax (FCT) on that payment. FCT is a combination of VAT and CIT applied at source, and the rate depends on the type of service and whether you have a local tax registration.

For your Vietnamese clients, this creates additional administrative steps. They are responsible for calculating, withholding, and remitting the tax on your behalf. Some enterprise buyers factor that friction into their vendor selection, which can put you at a pricing disadvantage compared to locally registered competitors.

Offshore providers also don’t benefit from the VAT exemption on software and cloud services, since that exemption applies to locally issued invoices. Similarly, CIT incentives for software production are tied to a locally registered entity.

That said, the offshore model works well if you are entering the market gradually or serving a small number of large clients. If you service a handful of enterprise clients in Vietnam's semiconductor or electronics manufacturing sector, for instance, you can operate cross-border while evaluating whether the volume justifies a local setup.

If you are deciding between the two routes, our Vietnam team can model the tax impact for your specific situation and advise on the best approach. Book a free consultation here.

VNTA Notification and Data Privacy Framework

Operating a cloud platform in Vietnam comes with specific compliance obligations. The new regulatory framework has moved away from heavy telecom licensing in favor of a streamlined notification and data protection framework.

1. The VNTA Registration and Notification Regime

Under Decree 163/2024/ND-CP, cloud businesses no longer apply for a traditional telecom operating license. The decree sets out two separate paths in its place, and depends on whether you run the physical data center infrastructure or provide the cloud and communication services that sit on top of it.

Data center operators register with the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) using Form 25 of the decree. Your application pairs your business and investment registration certificates with a technical plan that proves your infrastructure meets national standards for safety, security, and technical performance. That plan needs to account for your location, capacity, internet connectivity, and cybersecurity measures.

Cloud and OTT providers take the lighter route. This route covers cloud services across IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS, and it extends to OTT communications, email, voicemail, and enhanced fax. You notify the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority (VNTA) instead of registering, which keeps the process simpler than the data center track. Your notification dossier includes:

• Corporate registration details for your Vietnamese entity.
• A technical description of the services you offer. For example, IaaS for colocation clients, a SaaS platform for enterprise users, or managed hosting for AI and data processing workloads.
• Designated local contact information and cybersecurity compliance declarations.

Once processed, you receive a value-added telecom service registration, which authorizes you to operate commercially. Processing typically takes two to four weeks.

You also keep control over your pricing. You can set service fees based on market conditions, as long as you report them transparently to the MIC and stay within fair-competition rules. Vietnam sets no regulated tariff caps on cloud services.

2. Personal Data Protection (Law 91/2025/QH15 and Decree 356/2025/ND-CP)

Vietnam retired Decree 13 on 1 January and replaced it with its first full Personal Data Protection Law, Law No. 91/2025/QH15, along with implementing Decree 356/2025/ND-CP.  A cross-border transfer breach can now cost you up to 5% of your annual revenue. You fall in scope the moment you process a Vietnamese user's personal data, onshore or offshore, as a processor, a controller, or both.

Your first obligation is consent. You need a clear opt-in before you collect or use anyone's data, and the old shortcuts no longer pass. Pre-ticked boxes and consent buried in your terms of service no longer count, and users can withdraw their consent at any time.

You must also prepare a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) before you start processing. This documents how you handle data, how your security is built, and where your risks sit. You file one copy with the Department of Cybersecurity and High-Tech Crime Prevention (A05) under the Ministry of Public Security within 60 days of going live. This holds even when none of your data is sensitive. 

3. Data Localization and Cybersecurity (Decree 53/2022/ND-CP)

Cloud companies serving Vietnamese users must store certain categories of data on infrastructure inside the country. Under Decree 53, mandatory localized data includes:

• Personal data of service users in Vietnam.
• User-generated data such as account handles, IP logs, credit card details, and payment histories.
• Relationship data such as user connections, contacts, and group activity logs.

This affects your architecture if you’re operating cross-region platforms. You can still route traffic through overseas Content Delivery Network (CDN) nodes and maintain offshore disaster recovery sites.

However, the primary copy of Vietnamese user data in the categories above must reside on local infrastructure. If you don’t have your own facility, colocation with a local provider like Viettel IDC or CMC Data Center satisfies the requirement.

The requirement applies to both foreign and domestic providers. If an offshore provider fails to comply with cybersecurity directives or breaches national security regulations, the Ministry of Public Security can issue a formal directive requiring the foreign parent company to establish a physical branch or representative office in Vietnam.

How to Set Up a Cloud Computing Company in Vietnam

Setting up a cloud company follows Vietnam's standard registration path for foreign-invested enterprises, with an additional notification step tied to the telecom classification. The process is the same whether you are launching a cloud platform, a data center, or a managed services company.

1. Register your company through the provincial Department of Planning and Investment. Under Decree 96/2026/ND-CP, software and cloud providers can leverage the entity-first process. This lets you hire staff and open bank accounts right away, giving you up to 12 months to complete your Investment Registration Certificate (IRC). If you are building a physical data center within a designated high-tech or IT park, you can use the Green Channel special investment procedure instead. This cuts down your IRC processing time to 15 working days.
2. File your service notification with the VNTA under Decree 163. This replaces the traditional telecom license for cloud providers and must be completed before you go live with customers.
3. Submit your DPIA to the Ministry of Public Security under Decree 13 within 60 days of starting data processing operations. The scope covers any platform handling Vietnamese user data.
4. Open your corporate bank account and complete tax registration. If your company qualifies for CIT incentives under Decree 218, flag that classification from the start to avoid retroactive claims later.

There is no statutory minimum capital for cloud companies, but authorities expect a commercially realistic amount. Most cloud and SaaS companies register between USD 10,000 and USD 50,000. Physical data center builds, however, may require substantially higher capital backed by proof of funds.

Standard corporate registration takes two to four months if your documents are prepared in advance. If you are constructing physical data center facilities, land acquisition, site clearance, and utility connections will naturally extend your timeline.

For more details on setting up a foreign company in Vietnam, see our guides to FDI company formation and tax incentives for foreign investors.

Set Up Your Cloud Computing Business in Vietnam with Emerhub

If you are building a data center facility or launching cloud services in Vietnam, Emerhub can manage your corporate setup end-to-end. Our Vietnam team advises on entity structuring, maps your business activities to the right VSIC codes, and handles the full registration sequence. We’ll support you from incorporation to your VNTA notification and Decree 13 filings.

Once your company is operational, we can manage your ongoing corporate compliance, including monthly tax declarations, statutory audits, corporate secretarial duties, and local payroll. 

If you are still assessing the market before committing to a local entity, we can also structure a compliant offshore arrangement. Contact our local team to discuss your plans in Vietnam.