In August 2025, SAP made headlines with a landmark announcement: a €150 million investment to establish SAP Labs Vietnam, a major research and development center in Ho Chi Minh City. This new lab, located in the prestigious The Nexus development, is SAP’s second R&D center in Southeast Asia (after Singapore) and joins a select network of 20 SAP Labs worldwide. The significance of this move goes far beyond real estate. It represents a long-term commitment to digital innovation, regional customer support, and global developer engagement in one of the fastest-growing digital economies in the world.

Vietnam's strategic location, thriving developer talent pool, and strong digital GDP growth made it an ideal destination. This R&D hub will serve not only as a production house for next-generation SAP technologies but as a collaborative innovation partner for customers across Asia-Pacific and globally.

The Innovation Engine: What SAP Labs Vietnam Is Built to Deliver

SAP Labs Vietnam will serve as a full-scale innovation engine, focused on accelerating development in:

• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning – Contributing to SAP's business AI initiatives embedded across S/4HANA, Business Technology Platform (BTP), and SAP Analytics Cloud.
• Intelligent Enterprise Solutions – Supporting next-gen features for logistics, procurement, and manufacturing automation.
• Sustainable Digital Supply Chains – Developing new capabilities aligned with SAP’s Green Ledger and ESG compliance solutions.
• Developer Tooling and Platform Engineering – Enhancing SAP’s developer experience and API ecosystems.

Unlike support centers or sales hubs, SAP Labs operate with a deep product ownership model. Teams in Vietnam will work on product architecture, write core code, contribute to roadmap features, and participate in global product releases.

Building a High-Impact Talent Pipeline

Since its initial rollout in late 2024, SAP Labs Vietnam has scaled rapidly. The facility now houses over 200 employees and is expected to grow to 500 by 2027. A particularly aggressive expansion is planned in 2025, with 350 new hires forecasted for the year.

The lab’s hiring strategy is both broad and deep:

• Engineering graduates from top Vietnamese universities are being recruited into SAP’s global early talent programs.
• Mid-career technologists with deep experience in cloud-native development, AI/ML, and enterprise integration are also being onboarded.
• Collaborations with universities such as the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Fulbright University are fostering long-term talent pipelines in applied AI, design thinking, and digital transformation leadership.

SAP Labs Vietnam is not only drawing from the local labor pool but contributing to it—offering training, certification, and global exposure to Vietnam’s rising generation of tech professionals.

APAC-Centric Innovation: What It Means for Regional Customers

SAP’s APAC customers have historically dealt with a gap between local business needs and globally developed product features. With the opening of SAP Labs Vietnam, this dynamic shifts significantly:

• Localization of product features: SAP Labs Vietnam can incorporate regional regulatory, language, and industry nuances directly into product design.
• Faster customer feedback loops: Enterprises in Southeast Asia, Australia, and South Korea now have a dedicated channel for co-innovation and agile prototyping.
• Joint development opportunities: Large customers can co-develop features or run design sprints directly with SAP Labs engineers, reducing development lead times.

This proximity reduces time-to-value and supports the region’s push toward intelligent enterprise transformation—particularly in digital supply chain, smart manufacturing, and sustainability reporting.

Developer Ecosystem Expansion: Catalyzing Open Innovation

Vietnam is one of the fastest-growing digital economies in Asia, with a strong emphasis on cloud-native development, mobile-first innovation, and entrepreneurial tech culture. SAP Labs Vietnam aims to amplify this growth:

• Developer engagement programs will include SAP CodeJam events, hackathons, and developer bootcamps hosted locally.
• Open innovation partnerships will be pursued with incubators and government-led tech parks, particularly in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang.
• SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) will be promoted through targeted enablement programs, giving local developers tools to build and commercialize enterprise-grade applications.

Over time, SAP Labs Vietnam is expected to become a launchpad for new apps and extensions in the SAP Store—contributed by both SAP engineers and third-party Vietnamese developers.

Strategic Implications for CIOs and Innovation Leaders

For enterprise leaders across APAC, this investment represents far more than a new lab. It offers tangible business value across several dimensions:

Regionalization of R&D

SAP’s decision to base product teams in Vietnam gives customers direct input into feature development. CIOs leading digital transformation projects in manufacturing, distribution, or finance can now engage with SAP product teams in their own time zone and context.

Faster Innovation Cycles

With SAP Labs Vietnam contributing to global sprints and releases, SAP products can incorporate feedback and enhancements faster. This benefits all customers, particularly those looking for agile, iterative rollout of new features.

Ecosystem Strengthening

The lab will act as a gravitational center for SAP’s partner ecosystem—resellers, implementers, and ISVs—who can now co-develop and test new capabilities in closer collaboration with SAP.

Talent Mobility and Upskilling

Regional SAP teams will have access to a deeper bench of engineering support and product expertise. SAP customers may benefit through shared training programs, internships, or secondments for their own staff.

Real-World Impact: From Local Launch to Global Leverage

Take the example of a Vietnamese manufacturer transitioning to S/4HANA with ESG compliance goals. Previously, they relied on SAP support teams in Europe or India for customization and development. With SAP Labs Vietnam:

• Their project teams can engage local SAP engineers for custom sustainability KPIs.
• They participate in joint testing of SAP Green Ledger features.
• Localization efforts, including Vietnamese legal and tax reporting structures, are directly supported.

This kind of collaborative agility simply wasn’t possible before—and will become increasingly common as SAP Labs Vietnam scales up its co-innovation efforts.

Conclusion: SAP Labs Vietnam Is More Than a Lab—It’s a Strategic Lever

With its €150 million commitment, SAP has placed a significant strategic bet on Vietnam’s future as a technology and innovation powerhouse. SAP Labs Vietnam will not only enhance SAP’s own R&D capabilities but drive broader benefits across:

• Regional product innovation
• Enhanced APAC customer service
• Talent development and ecosystem growth

For CIOs, developers, SAP partners, and innovation leaders, SAP Labs Vietnam represents a vital node in the future of enterprise software. Its influence will extend beyond Southeast Asia—touching every part of SAP’s global network.

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