On the occasion of the United Nations (U.N.) Summit of the Future and the 79th session of the U.N. General Assembly in the U.S. last month, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and then State President To Lam had meetings with representatives of technology corporations and investment funds, and attended a discussion with leading U.S. enterprises. The trip is believed to create more opportunities for the two countries' enterprises to strengthen cooperation in the semiconductor industry.
New momentum
The semiconductor industry in Vietnam has shown strong growth potential with the presence of the world's leading corporations and the participation of many large domestic enterprises.
Vo Xuan Hoai, Deputy Director of the Vietnam National Innovation Center (NIC) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said that large businesses such as Samsung, Intel, Renesas, Qorvo, Marvell, Synopsys, Ampere, and Infineon have established research and development centers, along with factories in Vietnam. Along with that, Intel's largest chip assembly, packaging and testing plant in Ho Chi Minh City and Amkor's 1.6 billion USD semiconductor plant in Bac Ninh province were also inaugurated in 2023.
Hoai said that Vietnam has favorable conditions as well as preferential policies and mechanisms for the development of the semiconductor industry. In particular, its Government has shown great determination in developing the semiconductor industry ecosystem through the establishment of the NIC and hi-tech parks in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Da Nang.
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Vietnamese engineers work at a intel products factory. |
Regarding infrastructure, the country has implemented the National Power Development Plan for the 2021-2030 period and prepared transport infrastructure to support this industry. In addition, it has issued preferential policies and mechanisms such as the Capital Law, and the Government's Decree 94/2020/ND-CP that stipulates preferential mechanisms and policies for the NIC. Resolution 98/2023/QH15 of the National Assembly focuses on tax exemption and reduction for experts, scientists, and talented people working in priority fields, thus creating favorable conditions for investors.
Currently, several large technology enterprises and corporations of Vietnam are actively engaging in the fields of semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI). Particularly, FPT has pioneered cooperation with the world’s leading groups such as Landing AI, Mila, and Nvidia and plans to invest 200 million USD to establish an AI factory in the country. This AI factory is expected to help Vietnam boost economic development, promote its AI industry, and anticipate the world's technology development trend. In the semiconductor field, FPT focuses on the areas of design, testing, and high-quality human resources training to meet the market's demand.
Human resources readiness
In 2021, Vietnam issued the national strategy for AI research, development and application until 2030. On September 21, 2024 the Prime Minister signed decisions to promulgate the program for human resources development in the semiconductor industry and the national strategy for developing the semiconductor industry.
Accordingly, in the coming time, Vietnam will promote the training of high-quality human resources for the AI and semiconductor industries, with the goal of training 50,000 engineers between now and 2030.
Hoai said that in terms of human resources, Vietnam boasts an abundant source of technical workers and many prestigious semiconductor research and training units.
Universities such as the Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST), Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam National University - Hanoi (VNU) and Danang University have been training and developing a large network of domestic and foreign experts. These training facilities are ready to connect the large network of experts with domestic business partners such as Viettel, Vingroup, FPT, VNPT, VNG, and Momo to develop abundant and highly skilled manpower in the fields of engineering, technology and electronics.
"By 2030, it is expected that Vietnam will provide a total of 50,000 trained engineers for the semiconductor industry, including 15,000 microchip design engineers and 35,000 engineers for manufacturing, packaging, testing and other related fields. To that end, Vietnam will establish four national co-laboratories and 18 standard laboratories across the country," he said.
Sharing the same view, Nguyen Van, Vice President of the Hanoi Supporting Industry Business Association (HANSIBA), said that the quality of human resources is an important factor that helps to ensure that Vietnam is at the forefront of the semiconductor industry.
He noted that HANSIBA has connected schools and enterprises, along with domestic and foreign business associations to cooperate in training and supplying high-quality human resources. For example, at the Hoa Lac High-Tech Park Complex (Hanoi), the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Industry Technology Joint Stock Company (VNPT Technology) in collaboration with the Hanoi Community College (HNCC) and a working group of HANSIBA organized a career experience tour for a group of 100 HNCC students majoring in applied informatics and electricity - electronics. The Hanoi High-Tech Vocational College (HHT) enrolls 1,500 - 2,000 students every year, focusing on cooperation with enterprises to meet the needs of those based at industrial parks and high-tech industrial clusters.
Welcoming hi-tech “eagles"
At recent working sessions with leading technology firms in the U.S., Party General Secretary and then State President To Lam said that science, technology and innovation have been identified as an important pillar of the relationship between Vietnam and the U.S.
He said that investment cooperation activities between the two sides are still not commensurate with the potential of the bilateral relationship, and there is still ample room for cooperation in the coming time.
Lam hoped that U.S. investors will expand investment in sectors from science - technology, innovation, research and development, green economy, digital economy to semiconductor, AI, the Internet of Things, new and renewable energy, finance, biotechnology, and health care.
“The Vietnamese Party, State, and people are committed to creating favorable conditions in accordance with legal regulations for US investors to invest and operate efficiently and sustainably in Vietnam,” he affirmed.
Corporations such as Google, Supermicro, Meta, and Apple, along with investment funds also perceived that Vietnam is a highly potential market, especially when it has policies to promote the development of high-tech fields. They pledged to continue supporting Vietnam in the fields and expressed their interest in expanding investment in the country.
The door is now wide open for domestic businesses to welcome an investment influx into electronics and semiconductor sectors. However, to be part of these production and supply chains, ministries and enterprises still have much to do, including strengthening the linkage among the State, training institutes and enterprises, to ensure the readiness of policy, technology, and human resources.
Source: VNA