Nguyen Thien Nghia, deputy head in charge of the Authority of Information and Communications Technology (AICT), says the development of an ecosystem of businesses supporting chip manufacturers will help Vietnam increase its attractiveness to leading chip manufacturing groups.

In September 2022, FPT Semiconductor, a microchip designing and manufacturing company, a subsidiary of FPT Group, introduced its first microchip generation used in IoT (Internet of Things) products in the field of healthcare, turning the dream of manufacturing semiconductor components with Vietnamese wisdom into reality.

Integrated Circuit (IC), designed and structured by FPT engineers, targets specific industries and products. The designs completed in Vietnam will be outsourced to the factory located in South Korea where products are made and packaged.

Nguyen Vinh Quang, CEO of FPT Semiconductor, said the establishment of FPT Semiconductor is the next step on the path of implementing the dream of many Vietnamese generations.

Vietnam once had a semiconductor manufacturing factory in 1979, which was named Z181. The factory provided semiconductor devices to the Eastern European market.

“With the criteria ‘Make in Vietnam, made by FPT’, we have plans to design and commercialize chip products, and launch products to the domestic market and foreign market as well, including Japan, South Korea, the US, Europe and China,” Quang said.

In October 2019, Viettel stated that it was cooperating with many partners from the US, South Korea and India in chipsets, hardware and software for 5G.

“Vietnam has never made a chip from A to Z. When we say we will make chipsets, many people don’t believe we can do this. However, we can do it after just three years,” an executive of Viettel said.

Bich Yen, a semiconductor expert, said that Vietnam is enthusiastic and determined to manufacture chips.

“We need to mobilize the Vietnamese wisdom in the country and overseas to turn the dream (of making chips) into reality. Universities and businesses need to cooperate to prepare human resources, research and develop the devices.” she said.

Nguyen Manh Hung, a lecturer at RMIT University, thinks that organizing the manufacturing of chips in Vietnam is in line with the ‘Make in Vietnam’ strategy.

“Semiconductors are needed in all aspects of modern society. If succeeding in developing the semiconductor industry, Vietnam would successfully squeeze into the supply chain of the products with high technology content, such as telecommunication, military and healthcare equipment,” Hung said.

If Vietnam joins the process of research and development (R&D), designing, manufacturing and supplying semiconductor chips globally, this will offer economic advantages to the country. 

Nguyen Le Huy from RMIT suggested that Vietnam needs to create a medium- and long-term strategy to develop the domestic semiconductor industry.

In the medium term, Vietnam should join the R&D stages that require a workforce as the major factor. 

The government needs to continue to make investments and set preferential policies to attract large semiconductor corporations, including Samsung, Intel, Synopsys and Cadence, to set up or expand their research and design centers in Vietnam. 

At the same time, it should have policies to support domestic universities to prepare high-quality human resources in the field of semiconductors.

In the long term, Vietnam needs to obtain cooperation agreements on technology transfer with countries with developed technologies such as the US, Japan and South Korea. This will allow Vietnam to master all the important stages in the semiconductor manufacturing process, according to Huy.

Potential

According to Nghia, the typical characteristic of the semiconductor chip industry is the high level of specialization, which means that the stages in the production of semiconductor microchip, from designing to processing to packaging, and equipment to materials, are all very specialized with clear assignment of responsibilities.

Each stage in the production is undertaken by a few corporations, or a few countries that master technologies. In order to join the chains, countries need to have markets, big investments in technologies, and good geopolitical relations as well.

“About the role of Vietnam in the world’s semiconductor industry, it is undeniable that Vietnam is appreciated in development potential rather than the important role,” Nghia said.

Currently, in Vietnam, Intel is implementing one of the stages in the chip manufacturing process – the packaging. Also, Samsung and Amkor are making investments in some projects.

According to Nghia, there are about 50 enterprises operating in the field of chip designing in Vietnam, using 5,000 engineers. The development of the ecosystem of enterprises and chip designing engineers will help Vietnam improve its ranks and get involved more deeply in the semiconductor chip value chain. If Vietnam can do this well, it would be able to think of making chips itself from 2030.

Thai Khang