In 2023, with the visit of top leaders from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and representatives from major technology companies to Vietnam to explore investment opportunities, including Mr. Jensen Huang, Chairman and CEO of NVIDIA Corporation (USA), many opportunities have opened up for Vietnam’s semiconductor industry.
Minister Nguyen Chi Dung (left cover, first row) and Mr. Jensen Huang, Chairman and CEO of NVIDIA Corporation (second from left) at the National Innovation Center in late 2023 |
Vietnam has great potential and opportunities to develop its semiconductor industry ecosystem. However, in order to seize these opportunities, thorough preparations must be made in many aspects, including the shortage of high-quality human resources.
In response to a question from a reporter from Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper about countries that have been investing in the semiconductor industry for decades, where does Vietnam currently stand in the semiconductor industry, Mr. Vu Quoc Huy, Director of the National Innovation Center (NIC), stated that Vietnam’s electronics industry has been in existence for over 40 years and has gone through a long period of development, but it has only reached the level of service exploitation, equipment assembly with components and main chips imported from foreign countries.
According to Mr. Huy, this operating method has resulted in very low value added for electronic products in Vietnam, making it difficult to compete with electronic products manufactured abroad. The electronics industry has developed very slowly and has not played a major role in the economic development of the country.
Meanwhile, foreign-invested enterprises in Vietnam are still focused on outsourcing to take advantage of cheap labor, without investing in core technologies, specifically the production of components and semiconductor chips.
Mr. Vu Quoc Huy pointed out that without mastering the technology of producing components and semiconductor chips, Vietnam cannot create high value-added electronic products, nor can it create new breakthrough products in terms of technology for different purposes, especially for national security.
The demand for semiconductor talent is immense.
The demand for semiconductor talent in Vietnam’s semiconductor industry is projected to reach about 15,000 design engineers by 2030 (including 14,000 for domestic needs and 1,000 for international needs) and 35,000 engineers in other stages of production.
“This means that the number of semiconductor design companies will triple the current number, with approximately 100 companies, each with about 150 engineers, and about 15 semiconductor packaging plants with an average investment of 1 billion USD and an average scale of about 2,300 engineers per plant,” said Mr. Huy.
Minister Nguyen Chi Dung (left cover, first row) and Mr. Jensen Huang, Chairman and CEO of NVIDIA Corporation (second from left) at the National Innovation Center in late 2023 |
The leaders of NIC also recognize that with abundant labor resources, Vietnam has a great advantage in training high-quality human resources in the engineering and technology fields. However, there has not been enough emphasis on training semiconductor engineers, creating a significant gap between supply and demand in the industry.
Therefore, investing in the training of semiconductor engineers is a strategic direction to fully utilize domestic resources to increase the value added of domestic electronic products and contribute to the country’s economic development.
In recent times, Vietnam has attracted many technology companies in the semiconductor and technology industry from the United States and around the world. Mr. Vu Quoc Huy stated that foreign companies have highly appreciated Vietnam’s potential.
Companies belonging to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) have seen incredible opportunities for Vietnam to make its mark in the global semiconductor supply chain and have announced new investment plans and development intentions in this promising market. “Recently, Chairman Jensen Huang of NVIDIA has committed to turn Vietnam into the company’s second home and will establish a legal entity in Vietnam,” emphasized Mr. Huy.
Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung stated that the semiconductor industry is divided into four segments: semiconductor material production for chip manufacturing, chip design, chip fabrication, and chip packaging and testing. The segments of semiconductor material production and chip fabrication require large capital investment and high technology.
According to the Minister, Vietnam’s short-term development in the semiconductor industry focuses on participating in the design and packaging and testing segments. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen cooperation, joint ventures, and partnerships with leading semiconductor industry corporations in the world to gradually exploit and process rare resources within the country to serve semiconductor chip production.
To promote strong and in-depth development of the electronics industry and chip manufacturing, Minister Nguyen Chi Dung emphasized the need to quickly organize training and cooperate with partners to develop a high-quality workforce that meets international standards for this industry, especially in chip design, which is currently in great shortage.
In addition, it is necessary to review and supplement mechanisms and policies that encourage and provide stronger support for the development of domestic enterprises, startups, scientific research networks, high-tech zones, and innovation centers to participate in the development of the electronics industry and chip manufacturing.
Furthermore, research on specific mechanisms and policies to attract leading corporations in the world to invest in Vietnam’s electronics, semiconductor, and chip manufacturing industry, as well as to cooperate with domestic enterprises in production and technology transfer, is needed.
Minh Chien
