Bui Thanh Tung from Hanoi National University, Vietnam’s semiconductor industry needs 10,000 engineers each year, while training establishments can provide only less than 20 percent. The number of engineers in the field is estimated to increase by 500 each year, but not sufficiently qualified.

To prepare human resources for the industry, Tung suggested that universities should pilot training in semiconductor and microchip and retrain workers who previously studied relevant majors.

Also, enterprises should invest in training and join with training establishments to develop a workforce for the industry, and attract good researchers to lecture at university.

Nguyen Phuc Vinh, CTO of Synopsis Vietnam, said the demand for highly qualified staff in the microchip and semiconductor industry is very high, but companies cannot find enough workers. In HCM City, third-year students can begin working, mostly in physical designing, design testing, and other work.

Because of the serious labor shortage, workers in the industry all have attractive incomes which increase year after year. Newly graduated microchip designers can earn VND220 million a year after tax, while experienced engineers can receive VND1.3-1.5 billion.

Trinh Khac Hue, CEO of Qorvo Vietnam, said he wants 20 more engineers, but to date, he has found six engineers with knowledge about microchips.

Deputy Minister of Education and Training Hoang Minh Son said the lack of a high-quality workforce, especially in hi-tech fields, is a major hurdle in attracting the world’s large technology corporations to place R&D and production facilities to Vietnam.

Son went on to say that the demand for workers in the field is extremely high, especially after Vietnam and the US agreed to upgrade their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership. The upgrading has opened up great opportunities to cooperate and develop hi-tech fields such as AI, semiconductor industry and renewables. 

He said the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) is building an action plan to accelerate the training of workers for the semiconductor industry, and increase the number and improve the quality of the human resources, especially microchip engineers. Universities will play a major role in the plan implementation.

About 35 higher-education establishments can join the program, but the number of establishments with experience remains modest.

Son said the first and most important task is strengthening the capability of higher education establishments in both lecturing staff and facilities.

Ho Giap