During last week’s working trip by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to the United States, the National Innovation Centre (NIC) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) signed agreements with US partners to maximise the potential of Vietnam’s semiconductor industry.

NIC propels ahead with semiconductor agreements, illustration photo/ Source: freepik.com

In recent times, Vietnam has been focusing on developing human resources, building preferential policies, and crafting incentives for digital economic development, renewable energy, semiconductors, high-tech parks, and innovation and financial centres.

Of these, Synopsys, a Californian semiconductor design software and security group, will provide training licences which include curriculum, educational resources, and other initiatives to the NIC to help set up its chip design incubation centre.

Robert Li, Synopsys sales vice president for Taiwan and South Asia, said, “The successful development of the semiconductor industry requires teamwork and collaboration among government, technological universities, research institutes, and entrepreneurs. We will work closely with the NIC to help fortify Vietnam’s semiconductor industry development.”

Electronic systems design group Cadence will offer access to its tools to academic institutes selected by the NIC, providing students with an opportunity to gain real-world experience creating integrated circuit (IC) designs.

There are several aspects of the collaboration that will benefit the local market in Vietnam. For example, local university students and professors will have access to Cadence support and an online training suite. Cadence will also introduce internship and job opportunities to Vietnamese engineers trained at the NIC.

In parallel, Cadence will introduce the NIC to governments, organisations, businesses, and corporations in the semiconductor industry in the US and around the world.

“We are committed to putting our tools in the hands of next-generation innovators around the world, and this latest collaboration with the NIC fosters chip design advancement in Vietnam,” said Michael Shih, corporate vice president of sales for Asia-Pacific and Japan at Cadence. “The NIC has a pivotal role in the region, and we look forward to working together to ensure engineers have the resources they need to gain practical experience and enable our customers to achieve design success,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Arizona State University (ASU) will introduce job opportunities for Vietnamese engineers trained at the NIC IC design centre for training and incubation with domestic and foreign businesses in the semiconductor industry, including linkages to Arizona’s large global semiconductor ecosystem.

The ASU and the NIC will work with public and private Vietnamese academic institutions and others in order to develop training programmes, research exchanges related semiconductor and related fields.

The ASU will facilitate partnerships with governments, organisations, businesses, and corporations in the semiconductor industry in the US and around the world to support the ASU-NIC collaboration so as to develop the Vietnamese semiconductor ecosystem and deeply participate in the global semiconductor supply chain.

Also, the ASU will explore appropriate funding sources directed to develop workforce capabilities in semiconductors including, but not limited to, those related to the US CHIPS and Science Act.

Both sides will also explore opportunities to link bilaterally the ASU Innovation Zones across Phoenix, Arizona with the NIC in Hanoi to foster US and Vietnamese startup and innovation semiconductor ecosystems.

“The US recognises Vietnam’s potential to play a critical role in building resilient semiconductor supply chains. A newly signed deal between the NIC and the ASU will further develop Vietnam’s current semiconductor and innovation ecosystem, workforce and other related disciplines needs,” said Vo Xuan Hoai, vice director of the NIC.

“The NIC is focused on advancing the Vietnamese innovation ecosystem, driving growth in high-tech areas like the semiconductor industry that can fuel our local economy.”

In Vietnam, the NIC is establishing the infrastructure for the IC design incubation centre at Hoa Lac High-Tech Park in Hanoi, where academic institutes selected by the NIC can leverage Cadence’s portfolio of industry-leading technology to create a wide variety of designs, including 5G, Internet of Things, AI, and 3D-IC packaging.

Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said, “Vietnam has enough capacity to develop the semiconductor industry, a political system that is considered stable, and a favourable geographical location.”

Various ministries have been tasked with developing an action programme to improve human resources, with the goal of taking on 50,000 engineers for the industry by 2030.