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| At the Viettel IDC Hoa Lac network operations centre (Photo: VietnamPlus) |
Hanoi (VNA) – The Viettel Military Industry and Telecoms Group (Viettel) said on June 5 that its Hoa Lac 2 Data Centre is the first in Asia-Pacific to deploy Nvidia H200 GPU supercomputing and secure Uptime Institute’s TCCF Tier III certification, a global benchmark for safety, continuity and reliability.
Hoang Binh Son, Deputy General Director of Viettel Networks, which runs the facility, said in-house operations ensure the company delivers modern, secure digital infrastructure to citizens and businesses. Viettel Networks will invest capital into hyperscale data centre clusters across all three regions of Vietnam, targeting the most advanced technologies for the national programme towards digital transformation.
Patrick Chan, Uptime Institute’s Asia-Pacific Director, called the certification a strategic milestone, making Viettel the first telecom operator in Vietnam and the region to own a globally recognised AI data centre equipped with next-generation GPU servers, primed to operate as an “AI factory”.
That opens the door for firms to tap advanced AI computing power without heavy hardware investment, letting them build AI models tailored to their own conditions and needs.
Hoa Lac 2 stands out as the entire certification assessment run on live Nvidia H200 GPU systems. While most data centres rely on simulated workloads to test infrastructure capacity, Viettel put actual AI server clusters through the wringer, proving the facility can handle conditions that mirror real-world deployment.
Unlike conventional data centres built for storage and business apps, Hoa Lac 2 is purpose-designed for AI high-performance computing. It functions like an industrial assembly line where raw data goes in, yielding AI via advanced machine learning models.
The facility is Vietnam’s largest Tier III-compliant data centre, with 2,400 server racks serving AI, cloud computing and big data processing.
It houses more than 100 server clusters powered by Nvidia H200 GPUs and an Nvidia DGX B200 supercomputer that churns out 1.5 quintillion calculations per second, matching the combined muscle of thousands of standard computers.
To keep servers running nonstop at extreme capacity, Hoa Lac 2 uses a 5,000-tonne cooling system, the biggest in Vietnam, with dual redundancy to guarantee uninterrupted operation.
Notably, Viettel’s own engineers handled the entire certification process, from design and technical documentation through a 120-day operational assessment that included five straight days and nights of testing, without hiring the foreign consultants many operators lean on.
Viettel is also the first operator in Asia-Pacific to test with real GPU servers rather than simulated hardware. Despite heat output three to four times normal, the cooling system held temperatures steady around 27°C in every scenario, including power outages and maintenance, underscoring exceptional reliability.
The entire Hoa Lac 2 infrastructure forms the backbone of Viettel Cloud, a cloud computing service developed and fully controlled in-house with no dependence on any foreign platform.
Viettel Cloud now runs 14 data centres nationwide with more than 11,500 server racks and 81,000 sq.m of floor space, supported by 500 engineers and technology experts. Viettel has been elevated to Platinum membership at the OpenInfra Foundation and holds one of the eight top seats on the foundation’s board of directors, the leading international body for open-source cloud infrastructure.
The Tier III certification not only advances Viettel’s digital infrastructure and AI push but also delivers concrete evidence of progress on the Politburo’s Resolution 57-NQ/TW, which targets breakthroughs in science, technology, innovation and national digital transformation./.
