Semiconductor chip production is one of the fields the US wants to cooperate with Vietnam. 

Tran Dang Hoa, president of FPT IS and FPT Semiconductor, subsidiaries of FPT, which is the largest Vietnamese IT group, talked with VietNamNet about the opportunities for Vietnamese companies in the field.

Could you please tell us how many workers FPT has in the field of semiconductor manufacturing and explain FPT’s chip manufacturing process?

FPT Semiconductor was established in March 2022. The establishment was the next step in the strategy of implementing the semiconductor manufacturing plan which has been consistently pursued by FPT since 1979.

FPT Semiconductor has 100 staff in Vietnam (Hanoi, Da Nang and HCMC) and 50 overseas (Japan and Taiwan). A new R&D center has been established in Da Nang.

The first-generation chip created by FPT Semiconductor was Power Management IC. In 2022, FPT designed and manufactured three power IC lines and we will have seven more this year.

The first microchip line, released in 2022 and used in IoT products in the healthcare sector with the motto ‘Make in Vietnam chip’ and ‘Made by FPT’, officially put FPT Semiconductor’s name on the world’s chip technology map. This was considered a breakthrough in the path of proving Vietnamese intelligence. 

In 2023 and early 2024, FPT Semiconductor will continue designing and manufacturing IoT platform chip for smart devices, IoT for agriculture, forestry and fisheries. To optimize production costs and revenue, FPT Semiconductor chose commonly used technology, 130nm and 180nm, not advanced technology.

In 2022, the company had its first contract on providing 25 million chips in 2024 and 2025. The R&D time has completed and we have entered the mass production period.

Recently, FPT received an order for 70 million chips that need to be delivered in 2024-2025 to clients in Taiwan (China), South Korea and Japan, used in healthcare equipment and electronic applications. The figure is three times higher than initially planned.

The Southeast Asia Semiconductor Association (SEMI SEA) recently granted a membership certificate to FPT Semiconductor.

What are your assessments about Vietnam’s chip manufacturing potential?

Vietnam has potential to develop the semiconductor industry. There are about 40 companies in Vietnam undertaking work directly related to IC design. About 5,000 engineers are working directly in the field.

According to the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), Vietnam ranks third in export turnover of semiconductor chips to the US, following Malaysia and Taiwan. The revenue from the US market increased by 74.9 percent, from $321.7 million in February 2022 to $562.5 million in February 2023, accounting for 11.6 percent of market share. This was the seventh consecutive month that ‘Made in Vietnam’ chips accounted for more than 10 percent market share of the country.

Vietnam is now the destination that many multinationals choose to set up their factories relocated from China. And the number of chips to be consumed in the time to come will increase rapidly. 

Vietnam could become a supplier of semiconductor engineers to American companies or chip manufacturers in the US. The plan is to produce 50,000 engineers by 2030. The engineers will work in the US, Japan, Taiwan (China) and South Korea.

American corporations have confirmed that they will make heavy investments in the chip sector in Vietnam. Do you think this is a great opportunity for FPT Semiconductor, and what do you expect from it?

FPT Semiconductor has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Silvaco, a large technology partner from the US, to develop human resources for the semiconductor industry and boost business in the field.

We provide Intellectual Property (IP) on Silvaco’s platform, so the company provides this to clients. 

Silvaco and FPT have agreed to cooperate to develop business in Standard Cell, IO, and Memory design. In the long term, Silvaco will become our strategic investor. We also act as the representative and sole distributor of Silvaco’s software in the field of semiconductor.

FPT has committed to promote investments in the US, develop AI and the semiconductor industry at the US – Vietnam Innovation and Investment Summit, which took place during the US President Joe Biden’s visit to Vietnam.

By the end of 2023, FPT will have 1,000 workers in the US and it plans to invest $100 million a year in this market in the next five years, striving for the revenue of $1 billion before 2030.

Trong Dat