Minister Nguyen Manh Hung: Semiconductor industry is a fundamental industry

On the afternoon of March 17, 2024, in Hanoi, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung had a meeting and worked with Mr. Chris Miller, Professor of Economic History at Tufts University, author of the book "Chip War". Also attending on the side of the Ministry of Information and Communications were Deputy Minister Pham Duc Long, representatives of leaders of a number of relevant units under the Ministry, representatives of Viettel Group and the Academy of Posts and Telecommunications Technology. On the side of the US delegation, there were Professor Emeritus David Dapice, Tufts University and representatives of Fulbright University.

At the meeting, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung affirmed that the semiconductor industry is a fundamental industry, a key national industry. To have a long-term orientation and development of this field, Vietnam is currently building a National Strategy on the semiconductor industry.

Minister Nguyen Manh Hung: The semiconductor industry is a fundamental industry, a key national industry.

Discussing the development trend of the semiconductor industry, the Minister and Mr. Chris Miller shared the same view that the semiconductor industry will continue to grow strongly in the next few decades. Especially with the integration of AI into industrial equipment as well as consumer equipment, the number of devices using chips as well as the number of chips in a device will increase very quickly, in areas such as electric cars or self-driving cars, there are currently thousands of chips.

Regarding the issue of whether Vietnam's 100 million-people market is enough to develop the domestic semiconductor industry, Mr. Chris Miller said that chip production must be produced in large quantities to be economically efficient. Therefore, manufacturers must find a place in the global supply chain and go to the international market. That is the strategy that Korea and Taiwan (China) have applied and succeeded. TSMC of Taiwan (China) also started from producing small chips and became the largest semiconductor manufacturer in Asia.

Minister Nguyen Manh Hung presents a stamp painting to Professor Chris Miller.

Mr. Chris Miller added that currently, national leaders have not properly recognized the important role of chip design to focus on investment. In the semiconductor industry value chain, 40% of the value comes from design. The world's largest chip companies Nvidia, AMD, Qualcomm only do design. The biggest difference between Apple and Samsung phones is also in chip design.

During the meeting, the Minister and Mr. Chris Miller shared a number of perspectives and solutions to promote the development of the semiconductor industry in Vietnam, including strengthening international cooperation, investing in developing highly skilled human resources through cooperation with international universities and multinational corporations, and building a semiconductor ecosystem to move up the ladder in the global semiconductor industry value chain. In particular, Mr. Chris Miller emphasized that in the process of drafting the National Strategy on Semiconductors, it is necessary to have the participation and contribution of opinions from businesses in the industry so that this Strategy is feasible, has the ability to be practically applied, and truly promotes the semiconductor industry in Vietnam.

At the end of the meeting, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung highly appreciated Mr. Chris Miller's perspectives, advice and contributions on the development orientation of Vietnam's semiconductor industry. The Minister believes that the Ministry of Information and Communications will soon complete the National Strategy on the development of Vietnam's semiconductor industry so that Vietnam can truly grasp the opportunity to develop this industry and participate deeply in the global supply chain.

Chris Miller, Professor of Economic History at Tufts University, is the author of the book “Chip Wars”. The book talks about the transformation of chips, which have become essential components in many products and devices used in everyday life. The book won the 2022 Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award.

(According to mic.gov.vn)

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