SAP taps Vietnam and Singapore as its dual R&D engines in South-east Asia
With over 150 million euros earmarked for new SAP Labs in Ho Chi Minh City, the German software giant is expanding its regional engineering capacity beyond Singapore
[HO CHI MINH CITY] Germany-based enterprise software giant SAP has launched its next digital innovation hub in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday (Aug 7), with plans to invest more than 150 million euros (S$224.9 million) over the next five years and grow the new centre’s headcount to 500 by 2027.
This is the Frankfurt Stock Exchange-listed firm’s second SAP Labs in South-east Asia after Singapore and the 22nd one globally.
Manik Saha, managing director of SAP Labs Singapore and Vietnam, told The Business Times that the firm is focusing on Singapore and Vietnam as its two engineering hubs in South-east Asia, developing products and solutions for global customers, with no foreseeable plans to expand to other locations in the region.
“The flight distance from Singapore to Ho Chi Minh City is about two hours, which means that it’s very easy to work together to take the best of both worlds and create even better products,” he said.
While the Singapore hub focuses on deep technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, SAP Labs Vietnam plays a key role in developing SAP’s core products, including sustainable digital supply chains and intelligent enterprise solutions.
“I see it as complementary, simply because all these products will need AI embedded into them,” Saha noted, adding that AI experts in Singapore have been flown to Vietnam to deliver some training sessions for local teams.
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Since its establishment in Singapore in 2022, SAP Labs has hired 200 AI engineers in the Republic, out of a total headcount of 420 as at March this year, with most recruited from local universities and institutions of higher learning, including the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU).
The same approach to growing its tech workforce in Vietnam has been adopted, with Saha noting that SAP Labs has formed partnerships with three key universities, including the University of Information Technology and the University of Sciences – members of Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM), as well as the Vietnamese-German University (VGU).
The software giant aims to hire up to 350 people for the new centre in Vietnam in 2025, building on more than 200 employees already onboarded since September 2024.
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“Vietnam has a solid quality of engineering graduates,” said Saha. “We are building a community where we can grow together with engineering and innovation in this location.”
Speaking at the launch event, Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Chi Dung encouraged SAP to continue upskilling and expanding its tech workforce in Vietnam – potentially from 500 to 5,000 – by tapping the strong Vietnamese talent pool in Stem fields, referring to science, technology, engineering and mathematics, both locally and abroad.
Meanwhile, SAP is taking a measured approach to scaling up its team. “We want steady growth in new hires because we aim to maintain a certain level of quality,” said Saha. “We want product ownership out of Vietnam ... make sure that the people we bring in become global experts in what they do at some point.”
As one of the largest European software firms, SAP serves over 440,000 customers in more than 180 countries, including around 700 clients in Vietnam. Its global revenue in FY2024 amounted to 34.18 billion euros, marking a 10 per cent increase compared to the previous year.
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