Gartner predicts that revenue of the global semiconductor industry may reach $1 trillion by 2030. Nguyen Khac Lich, director of the ICT Authority under the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), said Vietnam will need to produce 50,000 engineers and bachelor’s degree holders majoring in semiconductors in the first phase of the semiconductor industry development strategy by 2030, with a vision towards 2050, and obtain revenue of over $25 billion per annum.

Lich said a skilled workforce is the ‘magnet’ that will seduce technology giants.

Nguyen Manh Cuong, Technology Development and Innovation director from Sovico Group, said Vietnamese engineers, who are industrious and good at maths and physics, can hold senior positions in semiconductor design and production.

Tran Phu Son from FPT Semiconductor estimated that there are about 5,000 semiconductor engineers in Vietnam, including those working for FPT Semiconductor. The company strives for 10,000 engineers by 2030.

The semiconductor industry is facing great challenges, including stiff global competition and a lack of experienced workers. However, Cuong is optimistic about human resource preparation. He said technology engineers with short-term training courses can undertake the job of chip design.

Taiwan (China) is home of the world's leading semiconductor companies. With a strong semiconductor ecosystem, Taiwan's chip fabrication plants account for 63.8 percent of the global market. Its outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) sector is also the world's largest with a 58.6 percent market share.

A report says Taiwan (China) is the source of 80-90 percent of high-end chips for advanced apps, such as smartphone and AI. Therefore, studying and working right in the ‘semiconductor cradle’ is believed to help Vietnamese engineers to gather experience quickly.

Cuong of Sovico stressed that the training of semiconductor workforce can’t be implemented overnight and one engineer will need to have at least 10 years of experience in the field. He gave a ‘formula’ that can be a solution to human resource development – the 2+2+4 training program with Taiwanese universities.

This means that students will complete two-year study at Vietnam universities, then receive tuition and stipend for the next two-year study in Taiwan (China). Graduates will receive bachelor’s degrees from Taiwanese universities and will have opportunities to work for four years for semiconductor companies there.

Lich believes that with Vietnam’s digital technology firms’ strong determination and resources, the goal of 50,000 semiconductor engineers by 2030 will be attainable.

According to Lich, developing specialized chips is an important part of Vietnam’s semiconductor industry development strategy, because the products are more easily designed and manufactured than the multi-purpose chips of leading companies such as Nvidia, AMD and Intel.

Vietnam also needs to master technology to ease reliance on other countries and strengthen domestic production capacity. In the immediate time, Vietnam needs to build and operate a small-scale hi-tech chip manufacturing factory by 2030.

“A country without a semiconductor factory won’t be considered a semiconductor country,” Lich said.

What are Vietnam’s technology firms doing?

Nguyen Trung Kien from Viettel, in 2017, said Viettel decided to establish a chip R&D research center with the task of becoming self-reliant in chip design and manufacturing.

Viettel has successfully designed two 5G chip lines using 28 nanometer technology. This company has also built an experienced team, mastering the entire chip design process and related technologies.

Viettel's goal by 2030 is to master the design and production of basic specialized chips for high-tech products. It is also moving towards mastering basic chip lines for domestic electronics industries, and wants to build and operate a chip factory.

According to FPT Semiconductor’s Son, the semiconductor industry is facing challenges, including stiff global competition, lack of experienced workers, and reliance on imported components.

FPT is now trying to solve the challenges by developing chip design and training human resources, including recruitment and training of new graduates.

The Vietnamese technology firm plans to connect semiconductors and other business fields, such as digital transformation and clean energy, to create new products and services.

Van Anh - Trong Dat