Many universities have quickly opened training courses related to semiconductors. (Source: VNA)

Lesson 2: The Key to the Semiconductor Industry

Vietnam is facing great opportunities to attract investment and develop semiconductors. Human resources are considered one of the key factors to seize this opportunity.

The Government issued Decision No. 1017/QD-TTg dated September 21, 2024 approving the Program "Developing human resources for the semiconductor industry to 2030, with a vision to 2050" to prepare human resources for the semiconductor industry in a systematic, methodical and quality-assured manner. Seizing this opportunity, many universities have quickly opened training programs related to semiconductors.

Seize the opportunity

Hanoi University of Science and Technology under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology has started enrolling and training in the Semiconductor Microchip Technology program from 2024.

The training content covers all three stages from design, manufacturing to evaluation and testing. Teaching in English, the school's teaching staff has built a comprehensive curriculum that equips students with knowledge, specialized skills, English proficiency and soft skills so that after graduation, students can confidently enter the global labor market.

(Photo: VNA)

According to Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Quynh, Co-Head of the Faculty of Advanced Materials Science and Nanotechnology (Hanoi University of Science and Technology), with the advantage of being a science and technology school training in basic science and technology, the school has experience in training in a number of related fields, such as Advanced Materials Science and Nanotechnology.

More specifically, the school has launched the majors of Engineering Physics and Electronics.

“Through comparing the school's curriculum and output standards with job requirements, we realized that with training experience in related industries, when implementing the Semiconductor Microchip Science and Technology major, there are certain advantages.

Currently, the facilities of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology have invested in basic science research fields that can fully meet the training needs of the school as well as meet the needs of training human resources for the semiconductor microprocessor technology industry at a basic level," said Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Quynh.

Explaining the reason for choosing to study semiconductor microcircuits, Nguyen Viet Anh, a second-year student in this major, said that semiconductor microcircuits are a key industry in our country. He is also passionate about electronic microcircuits, likes to explore and discover, so he decided to study this major.

“During my studies, I realized that this orientation was correct and in line with my aspirations. My teachers and I also provided our friends with full knowledge from basic to specialized research methods, practiced in modern research labs, and updated the latest semiconductor technologies. Thanks to that, students have enough knowledge and confidence to enter the job market right after graduation."

According to Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Quynh, in addition to the modern and synchronous facilities and laboratory system, Hanoi University of Science and Technology has received strong attention and support from the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology in terms of infrastructure and research equipment in the field of semiconductors.

Examples include the clean room system being managed and operated by the Institute of Materials Science; or the system of measuring and evaluating electrical and optical properties at the Institute of Physics.

Present at the “Clean Room” of the Institute of Materials Science, Dr. Dao Son Lam, in charge of the Clean Room, introduced the strict sterilization process before entering the clean room area and a series of modern equipment indispensable in research, teaching and learning of semiconductor microcircuits.

These are equipment for making conductive or non-conductive thin films with different capacities, photolithography equipment, spectroscopy equipment, heating equipment, chemical thin film forming equipment, and centrifugal equipment.

According to Dr. Dao Son Lam, seeing, hearing, and being directly instructed by leading experts, and operating machines worth tens of billions of VND, has helped semiconductor microchip students grasp knowledge and practical steps; shorten the actual training time at semiconductor enterprises in the future; thereby, improving the quality of human resources and the reputation of training human resources in the semiconductor industry in Vietnam.

Faced with the development of the semiconductor industry, the University of Science - Thai Nguyen University has also decided to deploy training in Semiconductor Technology at the university level, promptly meeting enrollment for the 2024-2025 school year, the program officially starting from July 2024.

Training and degree granting activities are in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training, Thai Nguyen University and University of Science.

According to Associate Professor, Dr. Hoang Van Hung, Director of Thai Nguyen University, the school has identified focusing on training human resources for the electronics, microchip and semiconductor technology industry in the school block as an important task. For Thai Nguyen University and the University of Science, training in the field of semiconductor technology is new but not too unfamiliar to the team of scientists and lecturers who have been and are working here.

Associate Professor, Doctor Nguyen Van Dang, Principal of the University of Science - Thai Nguyen University, said that with over 20 years of experience in training related majors such as Physics, Materials, Chemistry, modern laboratory equipment systems, etc., the team of scientists working at the Institute of Science and Technology of the school, including 6 Associate Professors, 6 Doctors, has many domestic and international research achievements in this field, the school is making good use of its existing potential to train the semiconductor industry in the coming time.

A representative of Phenikaa University also shared that in 2024, the school enrolled the first training course in chip training with 140 students.

The school has also sent 16 of its best students abroad for training and has plans to invest in infrastructure, research labs, and student textbooks to continue increasing enrollment targets in the following years.

Important step

Minister of Science and Technology Huynh Thanh Dat said that Vietnam has all the necessary conditions and factors to develop the semiconductor industry ecosystem, become part of the semiconductor value chain, and help promote the semiconductor industry.

Vietnam has been implementing a strategy to train high-quality human resources for the semiconductor industry. (Photo: Hoang Hieu/VNA)

Vietnam has been attracting more and more large corporations in the semiconductor industry from the United States, Korea, Japan, and European countries.

In recent times, our country has completed the legal framework to facilitate the prioritization of investment and development of semiconductor chips. The Investment Law and the Corporate Income Tax Law have added special incentives for high-tech, large-scale, high-value-added projects, including chip manufacturing projects.

Minister Huynh Thanh Dat also said that besides advantages, Vietnam's semiconductor industry still has limitations. These include low localization rate, unsynchronized research and development activities; high-quality human resources in the semiconductor field are still limited in quantity and quality.

Furthermore, Vietnam needs to make more efforts to reach cooperation agreements to support technology transfer with technology powers, thereby moving towards complete autonomy in important stages in the semiconductor chip manufacturing process.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the high-quality human resources in Vietnam's semiconductor industry are currently only about 5,000 people. Therefore, the Government assigned the Ministry of Planning and Investment to coordinate with ministries and branches to develop an action plan and strategy for the development of the semiconductor industry in Vietnam; including the Project to develop a human resource of 50,000 engineers and experts for the semiconductor industry by 2030.

Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said that Vietnam has an advantage in the semiconductor industry, which is strategic human resources. However, this human resource needs to be trained quickly, with quality, and ensuring international standards.

“If we have good human resources, that will be the key to this industry,” Minister Nguyen Chi Dung emphasized.

In Directive No. 43/CT-TTg dated December 4, 2024 of the Prime Minister on promoting human resource training for the semiconductor industry and some core digital technology industries, it is also stated that the Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Education and Training to urgently develop and promulgate training program standards on semiconductor microchips, to be completed in the first quarter of 2025; review, research, propose amendments and supplements to mechanisms and policies on tuition exemption and reduction, and scholarship granting for students of training majors related to the semiconductor and core digital technology industries at home and abroad, to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2025.

At the same time, research, propose and organize the implementation of a model of linking training human resources for the semiconductor industry and core digital technology sectors between the State, schools and enterprises; urgently complete and submit to competent authorities for approval projects and programs for developing high-quality human resources, developing a system of excellent training centers and talents in 4.0 technology.

Along with that, create a favorable environment to promote international cooperation in training high-quality human resources, exchanging experts and specialized lecturers in the field of semiconductor microchips and core digital technology at higher education institutions.

The Ministry of Science and Technology develops guidelines for implementing scientific and technological tasks in higher education institutions and research institutes with doctoral training in the semiconductor industry and core digital technology, to be completed in the first quarter of 2025.

At the same time, increase support for technology research and development activities associated with high-level human resource training to form and develop strong research groups, create conditions for young research groups and technology start-up projects with development potential in the semiconductor and core digital technology industries; prioritize the arrangement of programs and tasks for research and development of semiconductor and core digital technology products associated with human resource training at universities, research institutes, innovation centers and enterprises.

Semiconductor chips in particular and the semiconductor industry in general are likened to "grains of rice," because they feed all different fields in the technology era and are the key to future digital technologies.

Preparing human resources for the semiconductor industry is also an important step in preparing for Vietnam to enter a new era of the country./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/bai-2-chia-khoa-cua-nganh-cong-nghiep-ban-dan-post1009525.vnp