Review: Technology Emerging Technologies and their ImpactText Size: Infotech Biotech Nanotech Biztech Magazine Blogs MIT News Search Print What You MissedStem Cells Stuck in Patent Quagmire Better than Hybrids The Search for Voice Activation Genetic Clues to Alcoholism (or Why Mice Drink) Fon Hopes Its Hotspots Will Rival Cellular A Simple Way to Predict Drug Effects TECHNOLOGY REVIEW MARKETPLACE Volusion eCom Shopping Cart Software - Free Trial Easy to Use, All-in-one web based solution, search engine optimized, customizable, built-in marketing tools, RackS... Find IT Careers at Dice Search over 70,000 tech positions. Job matches delivered to your inbox Disruptive Technologies Stock Report Tomorrow?s leading technologies are today?s greatest investments. Receive our Special Investors Report. These 4 co... IT Certification and .NET Developer Training Industry leading MCSE, CCNA, CCNP, MCSD, A+ courses and more. Live instructor led training on CD. Hands-on labs, s... Virtual PBX for Small Business Virtual PBX answers, routes and screens calls automatically. Plans include a toll-free number, multiple mailboxes,... Buy a Link Now>> [1] 2 Next Friday, April 21, 2006 Vietnam: A Rising Sun in High-Tech The country's software and high-tech sectors are growing rapidly. By Associated Press HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- Vietnam's fledgling high-tech industry gets a major vote of confidence with the arrival Friday of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, whose visit says much about the country's success in establishing itself as a new player on the technology map. Vietnam has been anxious to jumpstart its high-tech sector, which got a big boost earlier this year when Intel Corp., the world's largest chipmaker, announced plans to build a US$300 million (euro243 million) chip assembly and testing plant in the country. ''The decision of Intel (to build) a plant in Ho Chi Minh City, and now Bill Gates' visit is confirming the recognition of Vietnam's potential for IT development,'' said Truong Gia Binh, CEO and president of the Corporation for Financing and Promoting Technology, or FPT, the country's leading software and computer maker. ''This is a major opportunity for Vietnam,'' he said. Gates, who arrives late in the day from Japan, is coming at the invitation of
Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, who made the offer when he toured Microsoft's headquarters during his visit to the U.S. last summer. Khai was the highest-ranking Vietnamese leader to visit the White House the since end of the Vietnam War. At the time, the two men had signed agreements for Microsoft Corp. to help Vietnam develop its technology companies and train some 50,000 teachers to use computer software. The head of the software giant is scheduled to hold talks Saturday with Khai and President Tran Duc Luong, speak to Vietnamese students at a local university, and tour Bac Ninh province near Hanoi to see how information technology is being applied in rural areas. ''We have a keen interest in developing the IT sector,'' said Deputy Minister for Planning and Investment Tran Dinh Khien on the sidelines of the Communist Party congress taking place this week. Vietnam has clear ambitions of becoming another tech mecca like India and, with its young, literate work force, the idea isn't necessarily a pipe dream, said Nguyen Huu Le, chairman of TMA Solutions in Ho Chi Minh City. ''I think 2006 could be a watershed year. It's a critical year in terms of being able to get to the next level,'' said Le, a former Nortel executive who returned to Vietnam to set up his own software company. Tech companies ''are starting to take notice of Vietnam. Even a few years ago, they wouldn't even think about Vietnam, much less search it out,'' he said. His company, which is doing outsourcing work for Nortel Networks Corp., Lucent Technologies Inc. and NTT Electronics Corporation, posted revenues of US$10 million (euro8.1 million) last year, he said. [1] 2 Next DiscussVietnam: A Risin...