Microchip Design Students in Demand

Universities say graduates majoring in Microchip Design are in high demand, and after five years can earn more than $3,000 a month, one and a half times more than those in the IT industry.

Vietnam is considered a potential market for the chip and semiconductor component manufacturing industry. The Ministry of Information and Communications said the semiconductor industry, including microchip design, needs 10,000 engineers each year, but the current workforce only meets less than 20%.

According to a survey by the Ho Chi Minh City Semiconductor Industry Association (HSIA), from 2019 to present, Vietnam needs about 1,000 microchip design engineers each year. Of which, the Ho Chi Minh City area accounts for about 53% of the recruitment demand.

Associate Professor Nguyen Duc Minh, Head of the Department of Electronics, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, said that the microchip industry in Vietnam currently has about 5,000 engineers, at 50 companies, mainly microchip design engineers. Each year, these companies need to recruit about 150-200 new engineers.

However, many large, world-famous companies such as Infineon, Renesas, Marvel, and Samsung are planning to open more offices and factories in the northern region. Therefore, Mr. Minh predicts that in the coming time, each year, businesses will need to recruit about 250-300 new engineers for the microchip design industry.

Dr. Nguyen Tan Tran Minh Khang, Vice Principal of the University of Information Technology, Ho Chi Minh City National University, said that even some businesses in Southeast Asia want to recruit personnel in Vietnam.

"This industry is increasingly thirsty for human resources and promises to explode in the next few years," said Dr. Khang.

HSIA's survey also shows that newly graduated IC Design engineers receive an average salary of about 15 million VND per month. Engineers with 1-3 years of experience earn between 15-30 million VND. After 6 years, they receive an average salary of 0.6-1 billion VND per year. With 10 years of experience or more, the salary can be more than 1.5 billion VND per year.

At Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Associate Professor Minh said that 100% of students who major in microchip design are welcomed and have jobs right after graduation. The starting salary for new engineers is about 15-20 million VND, equivalent to the Information Technology industry. If you pursue the profession for 5-10 years, the salary of an engineer in this industry is one and a half times higher than that of Information Technology, up to 2,500-3,000 USD per month (60-70 million VND).

"The job of a microchip design engineer is more difficult, and companies also have difficulty training human resources in this industry, so they are determined to keep experienced people. This is the difference from the IT industry," Mr. Minh explained.

Wireless transceiver chip researched and designed by Hanoi University of Science and Technology. Photo: HUST — Wireless transceiver chip researched and designed by Hanoi University of Science and Technology. Photo: *HUST*

Currently, Microcircuit Design is included in the training program of the Institute of Electronics - Telecommunications or Engineering Physics at Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Hanoi National University, University of Science and Technology (Ho Chi Minh City National University). Some schools have just announced to open Microcircuit Design major in September such as Ho Chi Minh City University of Information Technology, FPT University.

Students majoring in Microchip Design at the University of Information Technology learn basic knowledge of semiconductors, electronics, computers, information technology and specialized microchip design engineering, along with knowledge of other soft skills.

Upon graduation, students will have a solid grasp of fundamental and in-depth knowledge of microchip design techniques for application; have the skills to design, realize and evaluate systems and solutions in the microchip design industry.

In addition, to participate in projects at enterprises, students also learn skills in using design, simulation and testing evaluation tools from world-famous companies such as Synopsys, Candence, Seimens (Mentor Graphics), Xilinx.

At Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Associate Professor Nguyen Duc Minh said that for many years now there have been a number of training majors related to the field of chip design and manufacturing and electronic and semiconductor components such as Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering, Technical Physics, Microelectronics Engineering and Nanotechnology.

"The above training programs can provide students with full knowledge for the entire value chain of the microchip industry from design to manufacturing, testing and even microelectronic materials," said Mr. Minh.

Particularly for the major of Microcircuit Design in the Electronics - Telecommunications Engineering, students are equipped with knowledge blocks of Mathematics and basic sciences, Electronics - Telecommunications, social knowledge and soft skills in the first three years. Some typical subjects are Mathematics, Physics, Programming, Electronic circuits, Computer structure, Signal and information processing.

From the fourth year, students enter the IC Design major. Students learn about Embedded Systems and Embedded Interface Design, Microelectronics Technology Foundations, VLSI Large-Scale Integrated Circuit Design, Analog IC Design, IC Verification and Testing.

In general, students are comprehensively equipped, both in terms of expertise and soft skills, to be able to design and manufacture microchips, meeting the requirements of dynamism and creativity of this profession.

Semiconductor Physics Laboratory of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology. Photo: HCMUT — Semiconductor Physics Laboratory of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology. Photo: *HCMUT*

Associate Professor Minh said that after graduation, students often take on the position of microchip design, testing and packaging engineers. Regarding production, Vietnam currently has no company that can produce microchip cores and only focuses on packaging and testing. For now, companies only need engineers for this process.

According to Dr. Khang, microchip design has many stages and job positions. In recent times, the demand for positions in design testing and design verification and fields related to physical design has increased. In addition, jobs related to logic design and digital design have also attracted the attention of businesses.

Tuition fees for these majors at the University of Information Technology, University of Science and Technology (Ho Chi Minh City National University) and Hanoi University of Science and Technology all fluctuate around 30 million VND per year for the standard program.

Le Nguyen - Duong Tam

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