Vietnamese telco Viettel is to build a new data center in Ho Chi Minh City.

The state-run telecommunications group is to build what it describes as the ‘largest data center in Vietnam’, aiming to invest around VND 6,000 billion ($261 million) in the project.

Specifications or project timelines weren’t shared; this will be the company's third facility in the Ho Chi Minh City area.

Viettel Group ('Military Telecommunications & Industry Corporation') was founded in the late 1980s as a construction firm. The telecoms company is owned by the state and operated by the Vietnamese Ministry of Defence.

Founded in 2008, Viettel IDC offers colocation and cloud services from five data centers across Hanoi (x2), Da Nang (x1), and Ho Chi Minh City (x2) totaling 25,000 sqm (269,100 sq ft).

This month Viettel announced the ADC (Asia Direct Cable) international undersea cable route would land in Quy Nhon, Binh Dinh. The 9,400-kilometer cable will connect Japan and Singapore via China, Vietnam, Philippines, and Thailand, and offer 140 Tbps of bandwidth.

Doan Dai Phong, Deputy General Director of Viettel Enterprise Solutions Corporation (Viettel Solutions) - a member of Viettel Group, said: “After completing the landing, the ADC undersea cable route will be officially put into operation by Viettel; commercial operation [is expected] in 2023.”

Viettel has invested in five cables that land in Vietnam; AAE-1, TGN-IA, and AAG (all with landing stations in Vung Tau), APG (landing station in Da Nang), and ADC (landing station located in Quy Nhon).

Local telco CMC Telecom is due to launch a new 10,000 sqm (107,600 sq ft) data center in Ho Chi Minh City this month. In March NTT announced plans to develop a new 6MW, 3,100 sqm (33,400 sq ft) data center in Ho Chi Minh City.

In November 2021, Singaporean infrastructure investor Infracrowd Capital signed a Memorandum of Understanding to build a data center in Dan Nang.