Minister Nguyen Manh Hung receives Chairman of Qualcomm Group

Sharing at the meeting, Mr. Cristiano Amon expressed his impression of Vietnam's rapid development, affirming that Qualcomm strongly believes in the opportunity to cooperate with Vietnamese partners as well as optimism about Qualcomm's business activities in Vietnam.

Reporting to the Minister, Qualcomm's Chairman said that the group has cooperated with Vietnam for more than 20 years, contributing to the development of mobile network generations from 3G, 4G to 5G and is currently researching 6G technology, expected to be tested in 2028. In addition to the mobile field, Qualcomm has also expanded into semiconductor platforms for connected cars, artificial intelligence (AI) technology and next-generation computers (AI PC).

In Vietnam, Qualcomm has cooperated with Viettel to produce new generation ORAN mobile base stations, collaborated with VNPT to develop broadband systems, and cooperated with Vingroup in automobile manufacturing. Mr. Cristiano Amon affirmed: "We decided to choose Vietnam as one of the group's AI Hubs, serving not only the domestic market but also the region." He also said that the decision to make Vietnam Qualcomm's global R&D center was made through the acquisition of Movian AI.

Minister Nguyen Manh Hung highly appreciated this decision, saying that this was the right choice because Vietnam has abundant STEM human resources, a strategy to become a global IT Hub, and an ecosystem of technology businesses focusing on product development. The Vietnamese government has many support policies such as prioritizing the purchase of domestic high-tech products and supporting businesses to invest in research through tax incentives.

The Minister also noted that Vietnamese people are very suitable for the fields of science , technology and innovation. The Vietnamese government has a strategy to turn the country into a global R&D center. From now until 2030, Vietnam will train about 100,000 more high-quality engineers for high-tech industries. Vietnamese businesses have a special affection for Qualcomm thanks to the sharing and support from this group. Viettel is very satisfied with Qualcomm, especially when Viettel's 5G O-RAN equipment uses Qualcomm chips that have been certified to national standards.

Vietnam has policies to support output for enterprises producing high-tech products. The government not only supports technology development but also product development, with a tax refund mechanism of up to 4 dong for every 10 dong spent on technology products. Vietnam's policies to promote technology product production do not conflict with Qualcomm's chip business.

The Minister also shared the national semiconductor industry development strategy according to the formula C = SET + 1 (S – specialized chips, E – electronics industry, T – STEM human resources), aiming to build Vietnam into a center of human resources and semiconductor production. In which, S represents the priority of specialized chip products; E emphasizes the development of the electronics industry as an output for semiconductor technology; T aims to turn Vietnam into a global center providing highly qualified human resources in semiconductors; and +1 represents Vietnam's positioning. This formula can be applied to other high-tech industries in Vietnam.

The Minister suggested that Qualcomm should invest in Vietnam in two directions: opening a research center to develop chips in Vietnam and supporting Vietnamese products using Qualcomm chips, especially in the IoT field. The Minister expressed his hope that Qualcomm would quickly realize turning Vietnam into an R&D center of the group.

Mr. Cristiano Amon proposed the establishment of a joint working group between the Ministry of Science and Technology and Qualcomm to discuss cooperation opportunities in detail, and pledged that Qualcomm is always ready to accompany Vietnam to seize opportunities from global technological changes. Qualcomm also wishes to support the global launch of Vietnamese technology products.

Responding to the Minister's question about specific support methods, Mr. Amon said: With Viettel, Qualcomm will provide KPIs to measure products and introduce them in the group's global ecosystem; at the same time, help businesses target the mobile market using AI, which will be a very large market. Qualcomm is ready to become a missionary for Vietnamese technology.

Mr. Cristiano Amon also shared with the Minister about the path Vietnam should take to master technologies, especially emerging technologies: Vietnam should grasp the upcoming changes brought about by AI, because currently data centers are mainly used for AI training but in the future will be used to operate AI.

Minister Nguyen Manh Hung noted that after 40 years of attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), Vietnam is changing its policies. The Ministry of Science and Technology is amending the regulations on State incentives for FDI. Previously, incentives were mainly based on investment amounts, leading to most FDI projects being manufacturing and assembly; now incentives will be based on the level of technology transfer. Therefore, Qualcomm's expansion of R&D in Vietnam will benefit from many incentives from Vietnam.

At the end of the meeting, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung believed in the prospects of cooperation between Qualcomm, Vietnam and domestic enterprises, wishing "Qualcomm to be successful in Vietnam and from that success, contribute to Vietnam's success"./.