FPT acquires US product engineering services firm

The FPT Corporation has announced its acquisition of the US-based Cardinal Peak, a strategic move to strengthen its product engineering delivery capabilities in North America.

As part of FPT’s global growth strategy, the investment leverages Cardinal Peak’s expertise and 20 years of experience in delivering end-to-end product engineering services, including hardware, embedded software, IoT, cloud, and mobile product development, to over 300 companies in the automotive, healthcare, robotics, consumer electronics, streaming media, security and safety, and aerospace industries.

FPT also gains 100 experts and an office in the US. With these additional resources, it sets its sights on doubling its product engineering services revenue in the Americas in the next two years. This goal is partially driven by its investment commitment of $100 million by the end of 2023 in the strategic market.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Peak will remain an independent entity but now has access to enhanced service offerings, greater scale, and global delivery options through FPT’s extensive network.

FPT and Cardinal Peak have expressed their alignment in ways of working and people-focused mindsets, as well as optimism about future opportunities. FPT CEO Nguyen Van Khoa expects that the synergy between FPT and Cardinal Peak will result in new digital products, contributing to the advancement of Vietnam’s IT industry.

“Cardinal Peak is a well-respected name in the product engineering industry,” said Ms. Phuong Dang, FPT Software’s SEVP and Head of FPT Americas, Europe, and Middle East. “The team’s track record of effective collaboration and swift innovative solutions delivery will be a tremendous asset to FPT. We trust that this will be another fruitful addition to our global expansion.”

“We have been very impressed by the capabilities, culture, and resources at FPT,” said Mr. Mark Carrington, CEO of Cardinal Peak. “We are excited to join the FPT family. With our combined teams, we can provide greater value to our customers, accelerate innovation in the industries we serve, and expand career opportunities for our employees.”

The Americas is currently among FPT’s largest overseas markets, where it has 14 offices in the US, Canada, and Latin America, including nearshore facilities in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Mexico, and employees in 28 states and provinces.

Since 2014, FPT has been conducting merger and acquisitions (M&As) with leading tech companies worldwide to strengthen its consulting capabilities, expand its customer base, and increase revenue in overseas markets. Its first M&A deal was in 2014, with RWE IT Slovakia, a subsidiary of the top-tier European energy company RWE, which was also the first overseas M&A deal by a Vietnamese IT company.

In 2018, it acquired a 90 per cent stake in Intellinet, a rapidly-growing US-based digital transformation consulting company. FPT also made a non-controlling investment and became a strategic shareholder in LTS, Inc., one of Japan’s top 20 consulting, business management, and digital transformation companies, in 2022.

Continuing its expansion in the US, FPT acquired the entire IT services division of Intertec International in 2023. In October, it became a major investor in Landing AI, a leading computer vision and AI software company in the US.