QUICK DETAILS
● When: July 8–12, 2026 (5 days)
● Where: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (venue shared with registered attendees)
● Cost: Free — Builder and Guest tickets, both require approval
● Credits: Organizers cite $10,000+ in AI platform credits for registered builders
If you are based in HCMC — or anywhere in ASEAN and willing to make the trip — this is worth knowing about. Agentic AI Build Week is a five-day event scheduled for July 8–12 in Ho Chi Minh City, organized by GenAI Fund, which describes itself as Southeast Asia's first AI-focused venture fund, founded by former AWS operators. According to the organizers, it is structured not as a conference or panel series but as five days of building — with enterprise-supplied problem statements, provided infrastructure, and a Demo Day where enterprise partners are set to evaluate what gets built for potential deployment.
How the Week Is Structured
Per the event page, the week runs in three phases:
Days 1-3 (July 8-10) — Enable
The organizers describe 30+ partner workshops on agentic AI fundamentals, model integration, cloud infrastructure, and deployment patterns, spanning both consumer and enterprise AI contexts. Builder Ticket holders are said to get guaranteed seats; Guest Ticket holders get remaining spots on a first-come basis.
Day 4 (July 11) — Build
The hackathon kicks off. Builders self-select into tracks across the announced verticals, with mentors available throughout. The organizers say the briefs come from real enterprise partners rather than made-up problems.
Day 5 (July 12) — Demo Day
Presentations, judging, and awards — and what the organizers frame as the most important part: pilot conversations. According to GenAI Fund, enterprise partners evaluate the strongest builds for deployment, and solutions that clear the bar move into deployment discussions with companies that have real budgets.
Who the Organizers Say Will Be There
According to GenAI Fund, engineers and leaders from companies including AWS, NVIDIA, Apple, and Google have registered — described not as speakers flying in briefly but as participants attending across the week. The organizers also list enterprise-side attendees from Tasco, VNGGames, Gamota, Nova Group, and Phong Vu, said to be attending to evaluate AI solutions for deployment. The full partner and sponsor roster has not yet been published; the event page states it is still being confirmed.
Experts the organizers list as being in the room across the week include Hieu Hoang (Head of Solutions Architect, AWS Vietnam), Zenda Nguyen (Group CIO, NovaGroup), Kevin Duong (CTO, Gamota), Sibojyoti C. (General Director, KFC Vietnam), Michael Lin (COO, Phuc Long), and Ho Minh Thang (Vice Director of AI, FPT Smart Cloud), among others described as still being confirmed.
The Tracks
The organizers list two categories and eleven tracks confirmed so far.
Consumer AI: Gaming & Interactive, Education & Learning, Travel & Lifestyle, Productivity & Personal Tools, Creator & Media.
Enterprise AI: Robotics & Physical AI, Fintech & Financial Services, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Manufacturing & Industry, Retail & E-Commerce, Energy & Utilities — plus four additional verticals the organizers say are being announced.
The organizers describe two of these as firsts for Southeast Asia: they say the Gaming & Interactive track and the Robotics & Physical AI track have not previously been run in ASEAN in a structured hackathon format.
Ticket Types
Builder Ticket — Free, requires approval
The organizers list priority seating at all workshops, a guaranteed hackathon spot, Demo Day stage access, and access to what they describe as $10,000+ in AI credits. Aimed at developers, founders, and engineers who want to ship something real. Open to builders from ASEAN and beyond.
Guest Ticket — Free, requires approval
Full Demo Day access and workshop access while spots last (Builders get priority). Aimed at enterprise decision-makers, investors, and community members who want to see what gets built and have deployment conversations.
Three Side Events Worth Knowing About
Alongside the main build week, the organizers list three invite-only networking nights with limited seats, each themed around a specific area:
These are separate from the main AABW registration and have their own seat limits.
Registration is at aabw.genaifund.ai. The organizers note that spots require approval. Questions can be directed to [email protected]. Details above are drawn from the event's official page and are subject to change as the organizers confirm partners, tracks, and venue.
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