Looking for cooperation opportunities

The Korea-Vietnam ICT Investment Cooperation Expansion Forum was recently held in Da Nang, becoming an event for Korean ICT enterprises to introduce opportunities, advantages as well as seek cooperation between ICT enterprises of the two countries.

Mr. Kwon Young-wook - CEO of Yaho Lab affirmed that ICT is a potential field that Central enterprises can develop or cooperate with Korean enterprises to develop together to create profits and community benefits.

In particular, the Central region, especially Da Nang City, has great advantages for Korean ICT enterprises to invest and cooperate thanks to policies from the government, technical infrastructure and human resources, etc., thereby creating attraction and spreading. Yaho Lab is a business specializing in personalized tutoring solutions on the artificial intelligence (AI) platform, first appearing in Vietnam.

“Although Quang Nam is not as well prepared for ICT as Da Nang City, I think this is still a good opportunity for local businesses. Therefore, Quang Nam must build specific strategies for the future if it wants to seize opportunities from ICT.

Yaho Lab is always ready to look for partners in the Central region, Quang Nam, and Da Nang to jointly develop these modern technology platforms," ​​said Mr. Kwon Young-wook.

In recent years, ICT has become an important development direction, promising to bring many breakthroughs to the economy. In Da Nang City, information technology (IT) has been identified as one of the five key economic sectors prioritized for development.

Many policies and guidelines have been issued by Da Nang to create motivation to promote the development of the IT sector, making Da Nang an attractive destination, gathering investors, startups and IT enterprises.

In 2023, the total revenue of the IT industry will reach 36,571 billion VND, an increase of 8.1% compared to 2022. Software export turnover will reach 147.8 million USD, an increase of 12% compared to 2022. Da Nang's digital economy contributes about 20% of the city's GRDP structure, attracting about 53,000 people working in the digital technology industry.

Mr. Nguyen Tuan Phuong - Chairman of FPT Software Central region acknowledged that semiconductor technology is currently very much related to the manufacturing sector, so investing in IT development will open up many opportunities for the economy.

However, for Quang Nam to take the lead and join this flow, it first needs strong steps from local leaders. In particular, investing in preparing resources for semiconductor technology will help seize opportunities more easily. FPT Software Central currently has about 6,500 people, while FPT's branch in Quang Nam is not large in scale due to limited resources.

“The current difficulty is still human resources, this is the decisive factor, especially high-quality human resources with knowledge, foreign languages… We are trying to attract high-quality human resources to Quang Nam” - Mr. Phuong said.

Human resource engagement

Some opinions say that, in the situation where Quang Nam has not prepared conditions to develop IT industries, it can focus on human resources to supply to businesses in the Central region, especially Da Nang.

This opportunity is very bright because Da Nang has 3 IT parks in operation, including Da Nang Software Park with 2,200 employees, Da Nang Concentrated IT Park, FPT Complex with more than 6,500 employees. Da Nang is also completing and putting into operation Software Park No. 2 by the end of 2024, expected to attract 6,000 employees.

By 2023, Da Nang City had more than 2,000 digital enterprises, of which about 700 were IT enterprises with more than 50,000 employees, including 26,000 employees in the software and digital content sector. It is expected that by 2025, there will be 75,000 people in the ICT sector and 115,000 people by 2030, with an average salary of nearly 20 million VND/month.

Dr. Huynh Ngoc Tho - Vice Principal of Vietnam - Korea University of Information and Communications Technology said that the opportunities for IT workers are huge.

“Although Da Nang has 38 ICT training facilities (20 universities and colleges, 18 secondary schools) specializing in training in fields such as semiconductors, IT, software engineering, AI, etc., this human resource will hardly be able to meet the demand in the coming years,” Mr. Tho predicted.

In Da Nang, since the end of 2023, the city has established the Da Nang Center for Research and Training in Microchip Design and AI; implemented many investment promotion activities, connecting corporations, training institutions, domestic and foreign partners to promote the development of the city's semiconductor and AI industry.

Build and complete the Project for developing semiconductors, microchips and AI, focusing on chip design, assembly, testing and packaging; the goal is to have at least 5,000 employees in the field of semiconductor microchips, 1,500 employees in microchip design and 3,500 employees in packaging and testing by 2030; contributing to Da Nang's deep participation in the global semiconductor value chain.

According to Mr. Lee Jong Wook - Director of LG VS Danang Center, in the next 4-5 years, the demand for ICT labor will explode, leading to competition for human resources, and there will be a situation of continuous job changes and job hopping, so right now, orienting the training of local human resources is urgent and appropriate.