The semiconductor industry plays an increasingly important role in the development of the global economy with market value of $520 billion in 2023. Over the last 30 years, the value chain of the industry has been taking shape. 

Amid the strong technological competition among large economies, Vietnam has great opportunities to become a new player in the value chain. However, lack of qualified workers may be a barrier.

Truong Viet Anh from the Hanoi University of Science and Technology said Vietnam has 5,000 semiconductor engineers, mostly designers and testers. With demand increasing by 10-15 percent per annum, Vietnam will need 50,000 engineers by 2030.

The US Semiconductor Industry Association estimated that the US would need 42,000 new workers from now to 2027. Japan needs 35,000 engineers and South Korea 30,000 in the next 10 years.

Anh said 60,000 workers are needed to operate a semiconductor plant with a scale like TSMC’s. With current demand, Vietnam’s semiconductor industry would need 10,000 engineers more each year.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Cuong Hoang from Viettel said to cement its position in the world’s semiconductor map, Vietnam needs 10 times more engineers than now. This is a great challenge as universities need to expand training.

In chip designing alone, Viettel needs over 500 engineers by 2030 and 1,000 by 2035. Of these, 20 percent need to have a master’s degree or a higher education level.

In terms of staffing structure, 10 percent of engineers would work in chip system architecture design, 30 percent in front-end design, 30 percent in verification, and 30 percent in back-end design.

In the current context of semiconductor engineer shortage, though universities can produce engineers for different stages of the production chain, from design to production to app development, Vietnam is still facing great challenges.

Experts pointed out that the biggest barrier is the high cost in training hardware engineers, while market demand changes rapidly. Universities that train semiconductor engineers have to pay a lot for facilities (software, machines), but current investment in training and research at universities remains modest and short term. 

Another problem is that technological and engineering graduates do not have the necessary foreign language skills. Chip designing is a field with high income compared with other business fields. However, polytechnic students tend to be software majors.

A recent report of the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) said that the big hole in human resources in chip design needs to be filled in the next five years.

Nguyen Thanh Yen, CEO of CoAsia SEMI Vietnam, said chip design engineers in the US can receive $100,000-300,000 per annum in the US.

In Vietnam, the average income of chip designers is between $10,000 and $100,000 a year. The engineers with 1-3 years’ experience can expect pay of $10,000-15,000, while 4-6 years’ experience receives $16,000-25,000. Pay may be up to $46,000-80,000, or even higher for those with over 11 years of experience.

Le Thanh Nam, CEO of VIETA Solutions Vietnam with ETA Semiconductor, said his firm pays $1,000 to chip designers with one year of experience. More and more establishments have begun providing training in semiconductors.

Hoang Nam Tien from FPT University said in addition to long-term training courses at universities, those who want jobs in the semiconductor industry can access vocational training courses. FPT Jetking's chip design courses are providing opportunities to participate in the semiconductor industry in that direction.

Commenting about the incomes of chip designers, experts said there is a big gap between Vietnamese and American engineers. However, chip designers in Vietnam have higher income than staff in other industries.

According to Vo Xuan Hoai, deputy director of the National Innovation Center, the lower income for chip designers in Vietnam can be seen as an advantage for Vietnam to attract foreign technology and semiconductor giants to Vietnam to set up factories.

Vietnam now has good relations with the world’s leading chip manufacturers, including the US, South Korea and Taiwan (China). Of these, Taiwan plans to diversify the semiconductor supply chain. The country's geographical position and human resources will bring opportunities to Vietnam.

Trong Dat