Viettel Group introduces its designed chips at Ho Chi Minh City Hi-Tech Park in an event related to the microchip industry

Circuit design corporations around the world are set to shift their investment and engineer training to Vietnam. Taking advantage of this shift, localities and domestic enterprises are having solutions to attract integrated circuit designers for participation in the global microchip supply chain.

Vietnam - Destination of the microchip industry

Marvell Technology, Inc., a US-based company that offers infrastructure semiconductor solutions with more than 7,000 employees and more than 10,000 patents has just announced the establishment of the Circuit Design Center (Semiconductor Design Center) in Ho Chi Minh City.

With this move, Mr. Nguyen Loi, executive vice president of Marvell’s optical and copper connectivity, said that Marvell chose Vietnam to set up an IC design center because Vietnam is one of the more politically stable countries in South East Asia with a dynamic economy and more talents. The center is oriented to becoming a leading center of Marvell, where the most advanced technologies are developed for Marvell's new strategy.

He said that a team of more than 10 engineers of Marvell has indeed studied and participated in IC development projects in Ho Chi Minh City since 2013. Marvell Vietnam has continuously developed, especially in recent years, with strong growth in human resources with two offices in the southern metropolis with 300 employees and 97 percent of them are hardware and software engineers.

US Consul General to Ho Chi Minh City Susan Burns said that U.S. businesses like Marvell have always been at the forefront of the growth and development of this important industry in Vietnam, with products used as core ingredients in a wide variety of products and goods from phones, cars, to the digital infrastructure that is the foundation of the modern economy.

Previously, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Huy Dung chaired the seminar on strengthening investment cooperation between the Belgian Inter-University Microelectronics Center (IMEC) and Vietnam’ on May 10. IMEC is the center of research and development, and innovation in semiconductor chip technology with more than 5,500 researchers and experts from more than 90 countries.

IMEC is not only a key laboratory in Europe but also globally as today's largest chip suppliers such as Intel, Qualcomm, and MediaTek all cooperate with IMEC to have new orientations and solutions in technology; therefore, strengthened cooperation with IMEC will support the training of IC design human resources in Vietnam.

According to Professor Dang Luong Mo, Ho Chi Minh City is attracting microchip businesses. The Saigon Hi-Tech Park (SHTP) is now home to International Electronic Training Center (IETC) and SHTP's Circuit Design Center built by foreign microchip corporations in cooperation with SHTP. These two centers have just come into operation. Ho Chi Minh City also has about 50 IC design companies, mainly foreign, participating in the global IC production and supply chain.

Vietnam finds ways for development

The chip industry in Ho Chi Minh City is most active in the period 2013-2020 with some results in training, research and chip design. Products using Vietnamese chips have been successfully commercialized such as SG-8V1 chip, DE-8V1 KIT, container lock, cruise monitoring device, and electronic galvanometer.

In the orientation to 2030, Ho Chi Minh City will promote the development of the microchip industry through human resource training and the electronic circuit market while effectively operating designers’ achievements to attract projects of foreign microchip corporations’ investment in the city.

The establishment of Marvell’s IC Design Center in Vietnam or a series of other activities related to the IC industry in recent times has shown that the IC industry is growing.

With recent changes and agencies' attention, the microchip industry is making a comeback. Especially, the Vietnamese and Japanese governments have signed agreements to develop this industry, so if Vietnam leaders are determined to promote the industry, the Japanese government will be ready to support the Southeast Asian country, Professor Dang Luong Mo said.

Saigon Hi-Tech Park (Photo: SGGP)

At the seminar "Strengthening investment cooperation between IMEC and Vietnam", Mr. Nguyen Thien Nghia, Deputy Director of the Department of Information Technology and Information Industry under the Ministry of Information and Communications, assessed that IMEC's arrival in Vietnam and meeting with the Ministry of Information and Communications marked cooperation between the two sides allowing Vietnam to improve its technological level in the field of research and production of microchips.

According to Mr. Nguyen Anh Thi, Head of the SHTP Management Board, Vietnam has been assessed by the American Semiconductor Association as having potential in design and packaging which the country needs to focus on.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Huy Dung said that Vietnam wishes to become a part of the global supply chain, not only in terms of programming and packaging but also in many other aspects such as designing and putting integrated circuits into hardware products, especially in today's internet of things.

Source: SGGP