Semiconductor industry to be accelerated

Addresses the first meeting of the National Steering Committee for Semiconductor Industry Development held in Hanoi on December 14, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh stated that semiconductor industry development is Vietnam's strategic choice and top priority, the Government News reported.

To sustain growth, it is necessary to renew the country's traditional growth drivers such as investment, export and consumption while promoting new ones like digital transformation, green conversion, circular economy, knowledge economy, sharing economy, and especially new fronts like semiconductor, artificial intelligence, internet of things, cloud computing in order to create new production forces, the PM emphasized.

Regarding Vietnam's advantages for developing semiconductor industry, the Government leader pointed out that the country ranks second in the world in terms of rare earth reserves and is located in a favorable geographic region that accounts for 70 per cent of the world's semiconductor output.

Vietnam is also one of the 16 populous countries in the world and ranks 44th out of 133 economies in terms of innovation.

The country is home to more than 50 chip design enterprises with a workforce of over 6,000 engineers; seven testing and packaging factories with around 6,000 engineers and more than 10,000 technicians,  the PM said.

In addition, there have been 174 FDI projects in semiconductor sector with total registered capital of approximately $11.6 billion.

In the time ahead, Vietnam plans to adopt breakthrough policies and mechanisms in favor of the development of the semiconductor industry, including establishing a fund to support investment in the industry, adopting new laws on investment and corporate income tax.

In terms of infrastructure development, Vietnam has set up the National Innovation Center (NIC) and several high-tech parks in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Da Nang along with many other standard industrial parks to lure more investments from global tech giants like Amkor, Samsung, Hana Micron, Foxconn, LAM Research, Coherent, and Intel.

Domestic tech companies like Viettel, FPT, and Phenikaa have adopted and implemented development strategies and promote concrete projects in semiconductor industry. There are also promising semiconductor startups like Infrasen, VnChip, and Hyphen Deux.

Regarding international cooperation, Vietnam and the U.S. have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, deploying cooperation programs within the International Technology Security and Innovation (ITSI) Fund to develop ecosystem and human resources for semiconductor industry.

Vietnam has also been active in attracting global tech giants like NVIDIA, Samsung, Qualcomm, LAM Research, Marvell, Qorvo to visit the country to seek investment opportunities and set up cooperation frameworks with South Korea, Japan and India.

PM Chinh requested ministries, agencies and localities to step up the implementation of the Program on human resource development for semiconductor industry through 2030, orientations to 2050 and the Strategy for semiconductor industry development until 2030.

He tasked the Ministry of Planning and Investment to promptly submit to the Government for issuance of a Decree to encourage and support domestic and foreign investors in the field of semiconductor.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was urged to build a project to promote international cooperation in order to mobilize resources for the development of semiconductor and electronics industries in Vietnam.

The PM also urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to mull over the signing of cooperation agreements between Vietnam and leading semiconductor countries.

The Ministry of Education and Training was urged to coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment in carrying out the program on human resource development for semiconductor industry through 2030, with vision to 2050; submit to the Government for issuance of a project on human resource training for high-tech development for the period 2025-2035, orientations to 2045.