Vietnam's laboratories are becoming smarter, faster and increasingly automated as hospitals, diagnostic centres, pharmaceutical manufacturers and research institutes invest in technology to improve efficiency, accuracy and testing capacity.

The Vietnam Laboratory Automation market reached US$30.4 million in 2025 and is forecast to reach US$50.6 million by 2034, according to IMARC.

The market encompasses a growing range of technologies, from automated liquid handling and sample processing to microplate readers, nucleic-acid purification, robotic systems and laboratory software.

As Vietnam expands its healthcare, diagnostics, pharmaceutical and biotechnology capabilities, automation is moving from a specialist technology towards an increasingly important part of the modern laboratory.

Why laboratories are automating

Modern laboratories face a straightforward challenge: they are expected to process more samples, generate results faster and maintain increasingly high levels of accuracy.

Manual workflows can become a bottleneck.

Samples need to be received, identified, prepared, transported, analysed, stored and sometimes retrieved for additional testing.

Automation can streamline many of these processes.

Robotic systems and automated liquid handlers can perform repetitive tasks with high precision, while automated sample-management systems can reduce manual handling.

The result can be greater throughput, more consistent results and less time spent by highly trained laboratory professionals on repetitive activities.

Clinical diagnostics is an important growth market

Diagnostic laboratories represent one of the most important applications for automation in Vietnam.

Increasing testing volumes create demand for systems capable of processing larger numbers of patient samples efficiently.

6Wresearch identifies automated liquid handlers, automated plate handlers, robotic arms, automated storage and retrieval systems and vision systems among technologies specifically relevant to automation in clinical diagnostics.

Automation can begin before the sample reaches the analyser.

Specimens can be identified through barcodes, sorted according to test requirements, centrifuged, aliquoted and transported automatically.

After testing, automated systems can potentially store samples for later retrieval or disposal.

This creates the possibility of a much more integrated laboratory workflow.

Molecular diagnostics increases automation requirements

The rapid development of molecular diagnostics is another important driver.

PCR, genetic testing and other molecular workflows often involve multiple stages of sample preparation.

DNA or RNA must be extracted, purified and prepared before analysis.

Automated nucleic-acid purification can reduce manual handling while increasing the number of samples that laboratories can process.

6Wresearch specifically identifies automated nucleic-acid purification systems as a segment of Vietnam's laboratory automation market.

As Vietnam expands capabilities in molecular diagnostics, infectious-disease testing, oncology and genetic medicine, these technologies should become increasingly relevant.

Genomics requires high-throughput workflows

Genomics provides an even clearer example of why automation matters.

Modern sequencing can generate enormous quantities of information, but sequencing itself is only part of the workflow.

Samples need to be prepared, nucleic acids extracted, libraries created and reagents dispensed accurately.

When laboratories move from analysing a handful of samples to hundreds or thousands, manual processing becomes increasingly difficult.

Automated liquid handling, sample tracking and laboratory informatics therefore become critical components of scalable genomic laboratories.

6Wresearch identifies genomics and proteomics as distinct applications within Vietnam's lab-automation market.

That places automation directly within Vietnam's developing precision-medicine and life-sciences ecosystem.

Pharmaceutical companies need reproducibility

Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies represent another important customer group.

Drug discovery can require thousands of experiments involving compounds, biological targets and cell-based assays.

Automation allows researchers to process larger numbers of samples under highly consistent conditions.

Microplate readers and automated liquid handlers can support high-throughput screening, while robotic systems can integrate multiple stages of laboratory workflows.

Automation is equally relevant to pharmaceutical quality control.

Manufacturers operating under international standards need laboratory procedures that are reproducible and traceable.

Reducing manual variation can therefore support both productivity and regulatory compliance.

Vietnam's life-science market provides a strong foundation

Laboratory automation sits within a much larger scientific-equipment ecosystem.

Vietnam's life-science tools market was worth US$712.2 million in 2025 and is forecast to reach US$1.41 billion by 2034, representing annual growth of 7.66%.

This encompasses instruments, consumables and services used across biotechnology, genetics, molecular biology, genomics, proteomics and pharmaceutical research.

As these fields expand, laboratories require not only more analytical instruments but better ways of connecting and managing them.

That creates a growing addressable market for automation.

From individual instruments to connected laboratories

The next stage of laboratory automation is not simply replacing a manual process with a machine.

It is connecting multiple laboratory processes together.

A sample entering a laboratory can potentially be registered digitally, assigned a barcode and tracked throughout its journey.

Robotic systems can move samples between workstations.

Automated liquid handlers can prepare samples.

Analytical instruments can perform testing.

Results can then flow directly into laboratory information systems.

This creates the concept of the smart laboratory — an environment in which instruments, robotics, software and data systems operate as part of an integrated workflow.

Software is becoming as important as hardware

Automation increasingly depends on information technology.

6Wresearch includes laboratory automation software and informatics as a distinct segment of Vietnam's market.

Laboratory Information Management Systems can track samples, manage workflows, store results and support regulatory documentation.

Integration with hospital information systems can allow diagnostic results to move directly into patient records.

For research laboratories, informatics platforms can connect experimental data with samples, instruments and research projects.

This means laboratory automation is increasingly a combination of hardware, software and data.

AI creates the next generation of automation

Artificial intelligence could take laboratory automation another step further.

Traditional automation follows predefined processes.

AI potentially allows laboratory systems to analyse data and optimise those processes.

Algorithms could identify unusual results, predict equipment maintenance requirements, optimise workflows or support interpretation of complex datasets.

6Wresearch already identifies AI integration as a technology category within its dedicated Vietnam laboratory automation equipment market.

As AI capabilities develop, laboratories could therefore progress from automated laboratories towards increasingly intelligent laboratories.

Automation can help address workforce pressures

Automation is sometimes described primarily as a way of reducing staffing requirements.

In healthcare and life sciences, its value can be different.

Highly trained laboratory professionals are valuable resources.

Automating repetitive activities can allow scientists and laboratory specialists to spend more time on tasks requiring human expertise, including interpretation, troubleshooting, research and clinical decision-making.

This becomes increasingly important as testing volumes rise.

For Vietnam, automation could therefore help laboratory capacity grow faster than the specialist workforce required to support it.

The market reaches beyond healthcare

The commercial opportunity is also broader than clinical laboratories.

6Wresearch identifies end users including pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic and research institutions, forensic laboratories, environmental testing laboratories and food and beverage companies.

All of these sectors increasingly require accurate, high-throughput laboratory processes.

Food-testing laboratories need to process larger numbers of samples as manufacturers comply with domestic and export standards.

Environmental laboratories analyse water, soil and pollution samples.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers require increasingly sophisticated quality-control systems.

The result is a diverse potential customer base for automation suppliers.

From US$30 million towards US$50 million

At US$30.4 million in 2025, Vietnam's laboratory automation market remains relatively small compared with the country's overall laboratory and life-science industry.

But that is precisely where the opportunity lies.

Vietnam is still in the process of modernising laboratories and increasing testing and research capacity.

As laboratories scale, manual workflows become progressively more difficult to sustain.

The market is therefore forecast to exceed US$50 million by 2034, supported by investment in diagnostics, pharmaceutical manufacturing, biotechnology, genomics and research infrastructure.

For companies supplying robotics, automated liquid handling, microplate readers, automated ELISA, nucleic-acid purification, sample-management systems, laboratory informatics, LIMS, AI and integrated laboratory workflows, Vietnam represents a developing market with considerable room for further adoption.

The laboratory of the future will not simply contain better instruments.

Those instruments will increasingly work together.

And as Vietnam builds the next generation of diagnostic, research and pharmaceutical laboratories, automation will become one of the technologies connecting them.