The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) is presiding over the development of the Project “Developing human resources for the semiconductor industry by 2030, with a vision to 2050”. One of the important goals of the project is that by 2030, Vietnam will have trained at least 50,000 engineers and bachelors, participating in all stages of the semiconductor industry value chain.

In fact, for various reasons, young people in developed countries are indifferent to career opportunities in the semiconductor industry, while even workers who are currently working in the semiconductor industry are looking to leave the industry.

The shortage of STEM graduates to supplement and replace will create a large gap in the semiconductor labor market. In that context, along with India, Vietnam is considered a country with the potential to be a net exporter of technical workers.

In Vietnam, according to data from the Department of Information Technology and Communications Industry (Ministry of Information and Communications), our country currently has about 5,000 engineers in all stages of chip design. Compared to the target of about 15,000 design engineers and 35,000 engineers for the remaining stages of the semiconductor industry, this number is still quite a distance.

However, after a trial implementation period, the National Innovation Center (NIC, Ministry of Planning and Investment) said that the training model combining the State - School - Enterprise can help Vietnam train more than 5,000 microchip design engineers each year. If replicated in 10 training facilities and localities, this approach will solve the problem of domestic semiconductor human resource shortage.

According to Mr. Vu Hai Quan, Director of Ho Chi Minh City National University, to develop semiconductor human resources, the participation of state agencies and enterprises in the training process is extremely necessary.

“ This participation and cooperation helps improve the quality of training, thereby creating favorable conditions for students after graduation and meeting market needs. The current cooperation model between NIC and training schools, educational institutions, and businesses needs to be replicated, ” said the Director of Ho Chi Minh City National University.

In the context of semiconductor human resources being a hot topic, Da Nang is one of the most active localities in solving the problem of domestic semiconductor engineer shortage.

Sharing at the seminar "Promoting the role of Vietnamese enterprises in developing human resources in the semiconductor industry", Mr. Nguyen Van Quang, Secretary of the Da Nang City Party Committee, said that the locality is making efforts to create a favorable environment for enterprises to participate in developing human resources in the semiconductor industry.

Da Nang has been implementing many solutions, focusing on building a legal basis, creating policies to attract investment; Preparing land funds and infrastructure; Linking and cooperating with businesses in training, developing human resources and attracting experts in the fields of microchips, semiconductors, and artificial intelligence.

Currently, in Da Nang city, there are about 10 enterprises designing microchips such as Synopsys, FPT, Viettel, Savarti, Renesas, Synapse... with about 550 engineers trained from universities. Compared to the overall correlation of microchip and semiconductor human resources in Vietnam, the city's microchip design human resources account for nearly 10%.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Quang, to promote the development of the local semiconductor industry, Da Nang has put into operation the Center for Research and Training in Microchip Design and Artificial Intelligence from January 2024.

Immediately after its establishment, the Center signed two strategic cooperation agreements with Synopsys Corporation and Intel Corporation to deploy cooperation in training and fostering human resources in microchips, semiconductors and artificial intelligence for Da Nang.

“ Da Nang has set a goal of training and developing at least 5,000 engineers in the field of microchips and semiconductors by 2030. Of these, 2,000 will be in the design field and 3,000 will be engineers and technicians in the packaging and testing fields ,” said Mr. Quang.

According to experts, in the current context, to realize the goal of training 50,000 semiconductor engineers, the key factor is close and effective coordination between the State - School - Enterprise.

Vietnamese chip design students are sought after by many technology corporations . After the chip design training course, many students were accepted to work at large corporations in microchip design, some received scholarships to study abroad.