Vietnam is highly regarded for its semiconductor design and packaging.

Sharing with the press on the sidelines of the "Seminar on enhancing investment cooperation opportunities with the Inter-University Microelectronics Center - IMEC and Vietnam" recently held by the Department of ICT Industry, Ministry of Information and Communications in Hanoi, Mr. Nguyen Anh Thi, Head of the Management Board of Ho Chi Minh City High-Tech Park, said that microchip design enterprises are tending to shift their operations and seek investment opportunities in Vietnam.

In ASEAN, Vietnam is still a country with an advantage in ICT human resources. However, this is only potential and to turn this human resource into a force that can effectively serve the microchip design industry, we need to quickly train it.

On the other hand, Mr. Nguyen Anh Thi also said that we need to have policies to attract good experts in the field of semiconductors who are Vietnamese people living abroad to work in the country. According to the Head of the Management Board of the Ho Chi Minh City High-Tech Park, one of the important policies to attract this force is to exempt and reduce personal income tax, for example, it is possible to exempt personal income tax within 5 years.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Thi, Head of the Management Board of Ho Chi Minh City High-Tech Park, shares his views on developing the electronics and semiconductor industries in Vietnam. (Photo: P.Giang)

The orientation to make Vietnam a part of the global semiconductor supply chain was shared by representatives of the Ministry of Information and Communications and the ICT Industry Department at a seminar on investment cooperation opportunities with IMEC.

Specifically, according to the Deputy Director of the Department of ICT Industry Nguyen Thien Nghia, Vietnam will gradually participate in the semiconductor ecosystem. In the first step, we may continue to provide services such as packaging, testing, and design for large technology corporations. After that, we will consider having chip manufacturing activities in Vietnam or going deeper into the field of packaging and testing.

Expressing his views on what Vietnam needs to do to become part of the global semiconductor supply chain, Nguyen Anh Thi, Head of the Ho Chi Minh City Hi-Tech Park Management Board, emphasized that it is necessary to base on what we have and Vietnam's strengths to focus on those niches. Research by international organizations such as the American Semiconductor Association has shown that design and packaging are two stages in which Vietnam has potential and strength. Therefore, Vietnam needs to focus on these two stages in the first stage.

According to Mr. Nguyen Anh Thi, if we only focus on the back-end stage, domestic microchip design businesses will lose their jobs in the future. (Illustration: Internet)

The Head of the Management Board of Ho Chi Minh City High-Tech Park also made recommendations on what needs to be focused on at each stage of semiconductor design or packaging.

Specifically, in the design stages, Vietnam is still mainly doing the back-end stage (assembly activities - PV) and is weak in the front-end stage (processing activities - PV) with high added value. To compete in the design stage, domestic enterprises doing IC design need to move forward and do higher value stages from now on.

Regarding the packaging stage, Mr. Nguyen Anh Thi believes that Vietnam needs to attract more businesses in the ecosystem of strategic investors in the semiconductor microchip sector such as Intel. At the same time, it is also necessary to pay attention to the trend of heterogeneous packaging. Because when technology follows this new trend, the packaging stage, which seems to have low added value, will become a high-value stage. Thus, in the packaging stage, domestic enterprises must also move towards front-end instead of focusing only on backend, and at the same time need to update new technology trends in the industry.

A representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Hi-Tech Park Management Board shared that it is expected that in August 2023, this unit will work with an international partner to launch a Microchip Incubation Center to support the formation of domestic enterprises working in the front-end stage. " We also need to form enterprises that can design electronic products to build the electronics and semiconductor industry," said Mr. Nguyen Anh Thi.

Regarding the Institute of Information Technology, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Director Tran Xuan Tu said that this research and training facility is also ready for many forms of cooperation in microchip design and semiconductor technology with units such as IMEC. For example, exchanging students and scientists, coordinating the training of postgraduates, implementing research projects; or implementing short-term training programs in the field of microchip design and semiconductor technology.

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