Decree 353/2025/ND-CP: Guiding Vietnam’s Law on Digital Technology Industry

In 2025, the Law on Digital Technology Industry was enacted, marking Vietnam as the first country in the world to promulgate a separate law on the digital technology industry sector. To implement and guide this regulation, the Government issued Decree 353/2025/ND-CP: Guiding Vietnam’s Law on Digital Technology Industry. The Decree consists of 5 Chapters and 36 Articles, effective from January 1, 2026, focusing on clarifying key contents related to preferential policy activities for the digital technology industry, development of high-quality human resources, and the controlled testing mechanism for digital technology application products and services.

4 specific preferential policies for digital technology industry activities

According to Article 3 of Decree 353/2025/ND-CP, the State establishes a comprehensive support and incentive mechanism system to promote the development of the digital technology industry, covering products, services, and infrastructure to key sectors and innovative startups. Specifically:

Digital technology products and services

For digital technology products and services, production and supply activities enjoy investment incentives according to the regulations of the Law on Digital Technology Industry.

Besides, digital technology products and services using state budget capital are prioritized in public hiring and procurement, contributing to expanding the consumption market. Research and Development (R&D) activities in this field are also subject to many support and preferential policies to encourage innovation and technology mastery.

Investment in construction of digital technology industry infrastructure, concentrated digital technology zones

For investment in the construction of digital technology industry infrastructure, including concentrated digital technology zones, the State applies priority mechanisms, incentives, and special support, creating a synchronous infrastructure foundation to attract technology enterprises and form large-scale innovation centers.

Semiconductor industry

For the semiconductor industry – a key field of digital technology, the Decree records specific mechanisms and policies for the development of the semiconductor sector. Simultaneously, enterprises participating in the semiconductor supply chain enjoy many incentives and support, thereby strengthening domestic capacity and gradually participating deeply in the global value chain.

Innovative startup projects

For innovative startup projects in the digital technology industry, the law reserves a separate preferential mechanism, creating a favorable environment for technology start-ups to develop, commercialize products, and expand operational scale.

It can be seen that Decree 353/2025/ND-CP has concretized the major orientation of the State in taking the digital technology industry as a new growth driver, while creating a legal corridor and policies strong enough to attract investment, promote innovation, and improve the competitiveness of Vietnam’s digital economy.

5 criteria for high-quality digital technology industry human resources

Based on Article 5 of Decree 353/2025/ND-CP, high-quality digital technology industry human resources are identified through 05 key groups of criteria, focusing on practical capacity, professional qualifications, and the level of contribution to the digital technology field. This can be generalized as follows:

Criteria for personnel currently working at digital technology enterprises

This group includes senior management positions or personnel directly participating in digital technology activities at the enterprise.

Evaluation criteria are based on the scale and operational efficiency of the enterprise (large revenue in recent years) or income levels significantly exceeding GDP per capita, applicable to both Vietnamese and foreign workers.

Criteria for graduates from higher education institutions

Recent graduates within 03 years from higher education institutions are high-quality digital technology industry human resources when meeting one of the following criteria:

• Graduating with a very good grade or higher in majors correctly or closely related to digital technology, information technology training at higher education institutions on the list of 500 top higher education institutions in the world according to one of the most recently published rankings of organizations: Quacquarelli Symonds (UK), Times Higher Education (UK), Shanghai Ranking Consultancy (China), U.S. News & World Report (USA), or rankings published by the Ministry of Education and Training (if any).
• Graduating with an Excellent grade or higher in majors correctly or closely related to digital technology, information technology training at higher education institutions on the list of 50 top leading educational institutions of prestigious domestic rankings according to the law on higher education.

Criteria for people working, teaching, researching at higher education institutions, research organizations

Meeting one of the following criteria:

• Being a dean, institute director, or equivalent or higher currently working, managing faculties, institutes, schools, or research facilities on digital technology, information technology of higher education institutions on the list of 500 top higher education institutions in the world.
• Being a lecturer or scientist with a PhD degree or higher, having at least 03 years of experience working, researching on digital technology, information technology at higher education institutions on the list of 500 top higher education institutions in the world.

Criteria for officials, public servants, and public employees currently working at state agencies

Meeting one of the following criteria:

• Holding a position from Head of Division or equivalent at the Department/Agency level under the Ministry, or Department level or higher directly building, managing, and enforcing policies on digital technology industry, information technology industry; researching, developing, and applying digital technology, information technology.
• Being a public servant or public employee received or appointed within no more than 03 years under the policy of attracting digital technology industry human resources in state agencies.

Criteria for individuals with outstanding contributions in the digital technology field

• Within the last 05 years, having scientific articles published in journals belonging to the Q1 group according to Scopus/Web of Science.
• Being the author or co-author of at least 01 intellectual property object protected under intellectual property laws; provided that the object must be digital technology, digital technology products or services belonging to the List of strategic technologies and strategic technology products approved by the Prime Minister or belonging to the List of key digital technology products and services.

Determining the 5 criteria for high-quality digital technology industry human resources clearly not only creates a unified legal basis for policies on attracting, treating, and utilizing talent but also demonstrates the State’s long-term orientation in building a core human resource team for the digital economy.

4 conditions for the controlled testing mechanism (sandbox) for digital technology application products and services

One of the important highlights of Decree 353/2025/ND-CP: Guiding Vietnam’s Law on Digital Technology Industry is the establishment of a controlled testing mechanism (sandbox) for digital technology application products and services, specifically regulated in Chapter IV.

This is considered a new legal corridor to promote innovation while ensuring risk management requirements. The goal of the testing mechanism is clearly defined, including allowing organizations and enterprises to be exempt from complying with certain legal regulations within a limited scope and time; encouraging innovation; creating an environment to assess risks, costs, and benefits of new products and services; and simultaneously controlling and limiting potential risks.

According to Article 15 of Decree 353/2025/ND-CP, the 4 specific conditions and criteria for testing products and services are as follows:

Regarding the digital nature of products and services

Products and services must be products and services applying digital technology, formed from the process of convergence, integration, or combination of multiple digital technologies, or between digital technology and products/services of other industries and fields.

Regarding legal gaps

The deployment of products and services currently has no governing legal regulations or has regulations that are no longer suitable for practice, leading to the inability to deploy under the current legal framework.

Regarding risk management plans

Organizations and enterprises proposing testing must build plans to manage, control, and remedy risks, and have measures to protect the legitimate rights and interests of testing participants and related organizations and individuals.

Regarding innovation and value delivered

Products and services must have distinct innovation, be capable of creating added value, and contribute positively to the development of science, technology, and the digital economy.

On that basis, organizations and enterprises wishing to participate in the testing mechanism submit 01 application dossier for testing to the competent licensing authority, including the Provincial People’s Committee, Ministry, Ministerial-level agency, or the Minister of National Defense, depending on the field and scope of testing.

The maximum testing period is 03 years and can only be extended once, with the extension period not exceeding 03 years.

Besides, Decree 353/2025/ND-CP also details cases of suspension and termination of testing; rights and obligations of licensing agencies and participating organizations/enterprises, along with the process for dossiers, approval, extension, and completion of testing with unified forms, facilitating practical application.

Impact of the decree on Startups and large corporations (FPT, Viettel…)

The issuance of Decree 353/2025/ND-CP not only signifies the completion of the legal framework for the Law on Digital Technology Industry but also creates a distinct two-way impact on both technology startups and large technology corporations, thereby reshaping the structure and development momentum of the entire industry in the period from 2026 onwards.

“Acceleration” opportunity for digital technology startups

For technology startups, Decree 353/2025/ND-CP is considered a breakthrough policy boost.

• First, the controlled testing mechanism (sandbox) allows startups to deploy new business models, products, and technology services even when current laws have not kept up with practice. This significantly reduces legal barriers – one of the biggest obstacles to innovation in Vietnam previously.
• Besides, preferential policies for innovative startup projects in the digital technology industry create conditions for startups to better access resources regarding finance, infrastructure, markets, and high-quality human resources.
• The State clearly defining criteria for high-quality digital technology human resources also helps startups attract and retain talent, especially in the context of increasingly fierce competition for technology personnel.
• More importantly, when digital technology products and services are prioritized in public procurement and use of state budget capital, startups have more opportunities to commercialize products and expand markets right from the early stage, instead of relying solely on the private sector as before.

Consolidating position and expanding development space for large technology corporations

For large technology corporations like FPT, Viettel, VNPT, CMC…, Decree 353/2025/ND-CP plays the role of a strategic legal corridor to implement large-scale, long-term projects in the field of digital technology and semiconductors.

• Incentives for investment in digital technology industry infrastructure and concentrated digital technology zones create conditions for these corporations to expand the technology ecosystem, build data centers, R&D centers, and high-tech production zones linked to the global value chain.
• In the semiconductor industry, the State establishing specific mechanisms and policies helps large enterprises have a legal basis to participate deeper in the semiconductor supply chain, from design, packaging, and testing to component manufacturing, gradually improving domestic capacity and reducing reliance on external sources.
• Additionally, with advantages in scale, finance, and human resources, large corporations are also subjects directly benefiting from policies developing high-quality digital technology human resources, through attracting domestic and foreign experts and scientists, as well as cooperating closely with leading educational institutions and research institutes.

Promoting ecosystem linkage: startup – large enterprise – State

Another important impact of Decree 353/2025/ND-CP is promoting the linkage model of the digital technology industry ecosystem.

In which, startups play the central role of innovation; large corporations play the role of leading the market, transferring technology, and expanding scale; and the State plays the role of creating, supporting, and controlling risks.

This connection not only helps increase value for each subject but also contributes to forming a sustainable digital technology ecosystem, capable of competing regionally and internationally.

It can be seen that Decree 353/2025/ND-CP: Guiding Vietnam’s Law on Digital Technology Industryhas fully concretized the major orientations of the Law on Digital Technology Industry, from preferential policies and high-quality human resource development to controlled testing mechanisms, thereby creating a solid legal foundation for Vietnam’s digital technology industry to enter a new development stage from 2026.

In the context of constantly evolving policies and increasingly stringent compliance requirements, proactively understanding regulations and implementing them correctly from the outset is a key factor for enterprises and technology startups. Viet An Law is ready to accompany, advise, and provide comprehensive legal support for enterprises to effectively utilize opportunities from the new legal framework, minimize risks, and develop sustainably in the digital technology field.