Giving advice for the development of Vietnam's semiconductor sector, Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Mai Khanh - product development expert, Marvell Technology Group - emphasized: "We need to focus on design, packaging, testing and focus on a spearhead area, which is the advantage of Vietnamese students, of young Vietnamese people, specifically the design of continuous signal and high frequency microcircuits, identifying a niche where Vietnam can have an advantage, avoiding competition from other countries".
Mr. Khanh pointed out that Vietnam needs to have close cooperation with domestic and foreign technology corporations, and institutes and universities, and can refer to some microchip design models of neighboring countries. However, Vietnam also needs a special model for the Vietnamese environment and culture. "Vietnam has gained momentum and I believe it will take off in the near future," said Mr. Khanh.
Mr. Duong Minh Tien - a Korean expatriate and Samsung Electro-Mechanics chip packaging expert - noted that according to forecasts, by 2028, the demand of the global chip market will exceed production capacity, thereby creating a wave of investment in factory expansion and he hopes that Vietnam will prepare resources and take advantage of the opportunity to welcome this strong investment wave.
Mr. Tien pointed out that in recent years, Vietnam has successfully attracted large electronics companies to invest in chip packaging and substrates (semiconductor chip substrates) such as Intel (1.5 billion USD), Samsung (2.3 billion USD), Amkor (1.6 billion USD), Hana Micron (1 billion USD)... "These are also companies that will help Vietnam improve the experience of Vietnamese human resources and at the same time develop the supply chain for Vietnam" - Mr. Tien said.
Overseas Koreans note that in the semiconductor sector, in addition to traditional countries and territories such as the US, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan (China), Vietnam has the potential to attract more investment from Israel. Another strength of Vietnam in attracting investment is its proximity to China's Silicon Valley (Guangzhou - Shenzhen - Dongguan) - suitable for the China+1 strategy of large companies.
Another Korean expatriate, Dr. Nguyen Thanh Tien from Samsung Display, emphasized that to develop in the semiconductor field in Vietnam, there needs to be a combination between businesses and universities.
Regarding semiconductor training in Korea, while major universities such as Seoul National University, Yonsei University, etc. specialize in providing semiconductor personnel for large corporations such as Samsung, SK Hynix, LG, etc., small and medium-sized companies, with the help of the government, will target personnel at local universities, which train in specific majors.
In addition, Korea has models for semiconductor personnel to change their fields of work, with training centers of the Korea Semiconductor Association spread across the country, offering a variety of short-term and long-term training courses.
Meanwhile, Mr. Eric Nguyen - a German expatriate and member of the National Innovation Network in Germany - affirmed the urgent need for a global network of Vietnamese experts in the semiconductor field. "When we have a network that can solve everything from A to Z, we will be able to solve the semiconductor problem for the Vietnamese government," he said.
The German expatriate noted that the exploitation of rare earth resources is being neglected in the semiconductor sector in Vietnam. Vietnam's rare earth resources have reserves of 18%, second only to China, but Vietnam's exploitation technology is still very rudimentary. He suggested that the State and scientists sit down to come up with a plan to exploit rare earth resources effectively. According to him, Vietnam can take advantage of diplomatic relations with China, the US, and Canada - countries that are mastering rare earth exploitation technology - to learn from experience.
