"One of the driving forces for the development of the semiconductor industry in the coming time is the explosion of artificial intelligence (AI). The development of semiconductors will realize the desire to process AI-related calculations. The two industries of semiconductors and AI will have a mutual impact for a very long time", said Mr. Phung Viet Thang, Director of Intel Vietnam, at the event on "Redrawing the global semiconductor map: Where is Vietnam?" organized in Hanoi recently on the occasion of the launch of the book “Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology” by Chris Miller.

Nguyen Viet Hai, Director of Technology of Sirius Network Solution (SNS) Company, said that new trends such as AI chips that completely simulate the human brain, or quantum chips... will change our future in the next 10 years.

"Semiconductor is a very large 'front' related to many industries and fields such as materials, physics, chemistry, mechanics... Some countries with stronger human resources will play a more decisive role than countries with limited human resources. Japan is a typical example. With a high aging rate and a young workforce that is no longer dynamic, this country has lost its position in the semiconductor industry," Hai said.

Pham Sy Thanh, Director of the China Economic and Strategic Studies Center (CESS), said semiconductors is the second largest industry in terms of R&D (research and development) spending, behind only biochemical and biopharmaceutical industries. R&D for semiconductors accounts for 14.8% of total revenue.

“The semiconductor industry basically has three segments: design, manufacturing, packaging and testing. Currently, the design advantage is in the US and Europe. After completing the chip circuit design, some countries in East Asia, mainly Japan, Korea and China will prepare important raw materials for semiconductor production, which will then flow to Northeast Asia, mainly China, Taiwan (China) and some countries in Southeast Asia to produce and manufacture chips,” Thanh said.

“In general, in the current semiconductor map, besides the US and EU, the four locations including China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan (China) are basically taking on all the tasks of the global semiconductor industry," he added.

An issue with many conflicting views is the role of the state in the semiconductor industry.

Chris Miller, author of the book “Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology”, noted that the state plays almost no important role in creating efficiency for the semiconductor industry.

However, according to the Director of CESS, all of the world's major semiconductor centers benefit from support policies from the state. For example, China has the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund (Big Fund) and the US has the Chips Act.

The Intel Vietnam director said that at this time, the role of the state cannot be ignored because each step of development of the semiconductor industry is related to basic scientific research. This is a very expensive "game", he said.

"Non-market intervention is valuable at a certain time. At this time, non-market intervention will have quite 'heavy' values ​​in the development of the global semiconductor industry," Thang said.

"If there are talented young people, sometimes with very little budget, one can still rise up in the global value chain. We can completely think of the future for Vietnam in that direction", Hai - Director of SNS Company - said.

Where should Vietnam be in the global value chain?

“Most of the countries around us have participated in the semiconductor industry. Vietnam is almost the last participant, in a strong way, from the policy to the determination of the Government and enterprises. Vietnam has some advantages such as: having young workers, a good STEM foundation... Even the fact that we are still poor can be considered an advantage,” Hai said.

“However, the semiconductor field is very large, with many segments. It is clear that Vietnam should participate in the semiconductor industry, but which stage of the global value chain to participate in and how determined we are to gain a position in that value chain needs to be seriously considered", he added.

With 42 years of experience in chip making, Mr. Le Minh Quoc (who worked for the MK Group for 17 years) expressed concern about the fact that “The semiconductor industry is very dependent on basic science, but unfortunately, basic science has been neglected in Vietnam for many years”.

Answering the question “which direction should Vietnam take when participating in the global semiconductor chain”, Quoc suggested that Vietnam should go into the areas where it has strengths. “More importantly, we must calculate the output, who will use the product and where it will be used. Even Samsung has stopped producing some chips because it has no market share for these products. When looking for the answer to the question "where are chips used", we may discover a niche market, just need to hit that to be successful," Quoc said.

Thanh emphasized the importance of Vietnam making its own chips because when mastering the technology, it will be able to ensure national security. The semiconductor industry still has many niche segments that Vietnam can participate in.

Binh Minh