Building AI Capability: Part 1
AI adoption is moving quickly across Australia and New Zealand. But moving from experimenting with AI tools to building AI into products, processes and operations requires something more difficult to access: the right technical expertise.
For many businesses, that means hiring machine learning engineers, AI developers, experienced software and data specialists who can turn AI opportunities into reliable and secure systems.
And demand for those skills is growing.
According to the PwC Australia 2026 AI Jobs Barometer, Australian job advertisements requiring AI skills more than doubled from 20,000 in 2024 to 41,000 in 2025. Hiring for AI specialists with advanced skills such as machine learning grew by more than 80% in 2025.
At the same time, there is a gap between AI adoption and workforce readiness. Aon's 2026 Human Capital Trends Study found that 76% of Australian organisations have either deployed or are piloting AI, but only 24% believe they can recruit and retain the skills required to support it.
For CTOs, founders and decision-makers, the challenge is increasingly not whether to adopt AI, but how to build the technical capability behind it.
Vietnam has become an increasingly relevant talent market for ANZ companies looking to expand that capability. But hiring AI developers and specialists in Vietnam effectively requires more than finding technical skills at a lower cost.
Here is what to consider in 2026.
Australia isn't alone in navigating this transition.
Across the Nordics, AI adoption is also accelerating, although markets are developing at different speeds. Eurostat reports that 42% of Danish enterprises with 10 or more employees used AI technologies in 2025, the highest share in the EU. Finland followed at 37.8% and Sweden at 35%.
Norway is also progressing. Statistics Norway tracks the adoption of technologies including machine learning, natural language generation, computer vision and AI-supported workflow automation among Norwegian enterprises with 10 or more employees.
The exact adoption rates aren't directly comparable across every survey or country because methodologies differ. But the broader direction is clear: AI is moving rapidly into organisations.
The next question is what businesses actually do with it.
There is an important difference between using AI tools and developing AI capability.
Accessing GenAI (ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity or another platform) is relatively straightforward. Building AI into a product, workflow or business model requires a different combination of technical skills, organisational knowledge and human judgement.
The Australian Government's guidance for Chief AI Officers reflects this shift. Under the Australian Public Service AI Plan, agencies are moving from experimentation towards systematic and responsible AI adoption, with greater focus on capability development, strategy, governance and coordination across technology, data, HR, cybersecurity and privacy.
For businesses making the same transition, access to the right technical talent becomes increasingly important.
Vietnam already has an established technology sector and a growing focus on AI capability.
According to ManpowerGroup's Employment Outlook Survey (Q3, 2026), Technology & IT Services currently has the strongest hiring outlook of any sector in Vietnam.
AI literacy is also the most in-demand technical skill identified in the research, with 83% of Vietnamese employers willing to pay more for candidates with this capability. AI model and application development is another priority, identified by 75% of employers.
For Australian and New Zealand companies, this creates an opportunity to access Vietnamese tech talent in areas such as:
However, demand is increasing.
Companies should not approach Vietnam simply as a source of inexpensive developers. Experienced AI specialists are valuable in Vietnam just as they are elsewhere. The broader opportunity lies in significantly expanding the high-tier talent market available to your organisation.
At FWH, we support our clients in recruiting across the full spectrum of AI and data specialisations, including (but not limited to):
AI Engineering & Research
Data & Platform Infrastructure
AI Strategy & Architecture
Automation & Quality Assurance
Compensation varies considerably depending on experience, technical specialisation, English proficiency and whether you hire directly or through a local partner. AI and machine learning specialists will also typically command a premium over more general software development roles.
This mirrors a wider trend.
PwC's 2026 research found that Australian workers with AI skills now command an average wage premium of 62%, up from 57% the previous year. The premium is particularly strong in sectors competing heavily for specialised AI capability.
When comparing local recruitment with AI engineering services or building a team internationally, it is therefore important to look beyond salary alone.
Consider the total cost of:
The objective should not simply be to find the lowest hourly rate.
It should be to build the right capability sustainably.
Continue reading: How to Build an AI Development Team in Vietnam → In Part 2, we look at what to consider when choosing an AI development partner, why integration and retention matter, and how FWH approaches international team building.
Sources and further reading:
PwC Australia's 2026 AI Jobs Barometer; Aon's 2026 Human Capital Trends Study; Aon Australia; ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey Q3 2026 - Vietnam; Eurostat's 2025 enterprise AI adoption data; SSB Norway ICT Usage in Enterprises; Australian Government - Chief AI Officers; Datacom - CAIO 2027.
*FWH-specific retention, tenure and operating model figures are based on internal company data.