World Bank lifts Vietnam's 2026 growth forecast to 7.4% on AI hardware exports
The World Bank raised Vietnam's 2026 growth forecast by 1.1 percentage points to 7.4%, as high-tech manufacturing and exports benefit from surging global AI investment. Finished computers, servers and routers make up about 60% of Vietnam's AI-related exports, and AI-related goods accounted for more than 70% of recent export growth in Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. Vietnam's AI-related exports grew from roughly 20% of GDP in 2023 to about 32% in 2025, though the country sits in assembly rather than leading-edge fabrication, leaving it exposed if AI hardware spending slows.
It shows the AI investment cycle is shifting where hardware is manufactured, not just where compute is deployed, and highlights concentration risk for AI-export-dependent economies.