Developing high-quality human resources for the semiconductor chip industry

Need 50,000 high quality human resources

According to Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung, Deputy Director of the Department of Higher Education (Ministry of Education and Training), Vietnam's leading universities of technology are relatively ready in terms of training capacity to meet the human resource requirements in the field of semiconductors - microchips including: research, development and production of semiconductor materials, microchip design...

Training can be done by recruiting new students from the beginning or students studying related majors can switch to study in depth in the last 1-2 years; engineers who have graduated from related majors can take additional training courses from a few months to 2 years to meet the requirements of the semiconductor - microchip field.

Currently, there are over 50 large FDI enterprises investing in Vietnam in the microelectronics and semiconductor industry, of which the field of microchip design requires the most high-quality human resources.

It is expected that after the US President's visit, many more large corporations will invest in Vietnam, mainly requiring human resources in microchip design and manufacturing industry.

According to forecasts by some economic experts, the total human resource demand in this field is about 20,000 in the next 5 years and about 50,000 in the next 10 years with university degrees or higher.

Currently, the number of microchip design personnel is about 5,000 people, according to experts, the training demand in the next few years is about 3,000 people/year. Of which, the number of postgraduate graduates accounts for at least 30%, including level 7 engineers, masters, and doctors.

However, because the labor market in the semiconductor - microchip field is just emerging, mainly in potential form, the biggest challenge is how to attract students to study and improve the quality of training to meet the strict requirements of businesses.

Can't go the old way

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Hong Hai, Vice Rector of Da Nang University of Technology, said that in the STEM field, schools that have a lot of cooperation with businesses are an advantage. Thanks to the academic support policies of some major technology companies, students can access software commonly used in university training... Basically, after studying the above subjects, students can clearly understand the operating principles and design principles of microchips, meeting the recruitment needs of businesses. However, the school still lacks human resources and specialized training programs, and facilities have not kept up with the development of technology.

Five higher education institutions including: Hanoi National University, Ho Chi Minh City National University, Danang University, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, and Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation alliance. Photo: XUAN QUYNH

Similarly, Mr. Nguyen Phuc Vinh, Technical Director of Synopsys Vietnam, said that the demand for recruiting high-quality human resources in the semiconductor chip industry is very large but still not enough to meet the demand. In Ho Chi Minh City, third-year students can already work, mostly focusing on physical design, design testing and some other areas.

Mr. Vinh shared that the semiconductor chip industry has very attractive income, increasing steadily every year. In particular, newly graduated microchip design engineers earn after-tax income of nearly 220 million VND/year, with those with many years of experience earning from 1.3 to 1.5 billion VND/year.

Therefore, according to Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Hong Hai, there should be a common certification for universities through the National Innovation Center (NIC) and specifically for key universities. There should be policies to support and promote research and development such as ordering scientific and technological tasks for universities and key research institutes...

Agreeing, Dr. Nguyen Trung Hieu, Academy of Posts and Telecommunications Technology, said that the Government and localities need to research, organize/develop at least 3 high-tech centers, prioritizing investment in microchip design and semiconductor technology in the 3 regions of North - Central - South.

In particular, it is necessary to establish at least 1 center to invest in servers, purchase copyrights for microchip design software from some units such as Synopsis, Cadence, Mentor Graphic, build mini labs for shared use by universities. In addition, there should be specific policies and regulations to encourage businesses to invest in research, establish and develop semiconductor microchip manufacturing and trading facilities in Vietnam, especially Vietnamese businesses. There should be policies on scholarships, tuition fees, credit incentives and other policies to encourage learners to be interested in and persistently pursue the field of semiconductor microchip design.

Mr. Nguyen Kim Son, Minister of Education and Training, delivered the concluding speech. Photo: XUAN QUYNH

Concluding the workshop, Mr. Nguyen Kim Son, Minister of Education and Training, said that this is a high-tech field, requiring high investment, high requirements, high expectations, students can have high salaries... so it must be trained with the spirit of high quality.

According to the Minister of Education and Training, it is necessary to agree that the story is just beginning, difficulties are still piling up ahead. Admissions and training must be based on analysis of relevant data and must have a plan, roadmap, methodical and certain. Therefore, schools need to have breakthrough solutions. This is a new industry, it cannot develop with old experience, old habits, old ways of doing things; there must be a truly new way of doing things and vision.

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/phat-trien-nguon-nhan-luc-chat-luong-cao-cho-nganh-cong-nghiep-chip-ban-dan-post710520.html