Gaps need to be cleared to gain autonomy in Vietnamese chip technology

Talking to VnExpress, Dr. Le Quang Dam, General Director of Marvell Vietnam, expressed optimism about Vietnam's policy of developing the semiconductor industry. He laid the foundation for Marvell in Vietnam in 2013 when Vietnam's IC design capacity was not highly appreciated by the world. Up to now, the business has formed a team of domestic circuit design engineers with more than 600 employees, participating in researching the most advanced chips with 2-3 nm technology used in AI data centers.

- He said Vietnam can do every step in IC design, with the most advanced 2-3 nm chips. But what about making a chip yourself domestically?

- The semiconductor chip technology industry is divided into three main stages: design, production, packaging and testing. With Viettel starting a manufacturing plant and FPT starting a packaging and testing factory, in the next few years, Vietnam will have all three stages to develop a complete semiconductor chip industry. However, the actual capacity and potential of each stage is different.

In terms of design, Vietnam's presence globally is increasingly evident. Compared to Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand, Vietnam plays a much more important role in the field of IC design. We have the opportunity to further develop in both quality and quantity of personnel to become an important link in the world's IC design field.

Regarding production, it can be said that both capacity and potential are "smaller". In my opinion, the immediate goal is not to produce chips with the latest technology or compete directly with leading manufacturers, but to ensure technological sovereignty and serve the domestic market. As Viettel mentioned at the groundbreaking ceremony, we meet the needs of national defense and the needs of domestic enterprises producing chips with 28-32 nm technology for consumer electronics. In addition, the factory will also be used for research and training purposes.

Regarding packaging and testing, Vietnam can have a wider market with domestic and foreign customers as demand increases. With the development of AI, many companies design chips but cannot find manufacturing, packaging and testing partners, because large corporations have occupied most of the production capacity of TSMC, Intel, Samsung... Therefore, the output of Vietnamese packaging and testing businesses, especially when we can master advanced packaging technology, is quite open.

- In the next few years, when a complete semiconductor chain is built, what do you predict will be Vietnam's position in the industry globally?

- Vietnam's position and role in the overall picture of the world's semiconductor chip industry is certainly much better today. Not many countries have chip manufacturing, packaging and testing processes. Most focus on one area such as design or supplying rare materials to the industry, while Vietnam will have the full process.

When the factories are operating effectively, Vietnam will have a clear presence in the global semiconductor chip industry. Specifically, Vietnam has the capacity to design and produce to meet a number of domestic needs in defense and electronics and promote training, research and development, packaging and testing to serve domestic and foreign businesses.

However, to become a large, important and globally competitive link, it will take time to verify the extent to which we are able to expand scale, upgrade production, packaging and testing technology.

- With the current initial steps, how should we proactively manufacture chips domestically to avoid unrealistic expectations?

- That is the production of chips with 28-32 nm technology on a scale to serve the domestic consumer electronics market, defense products, training and research purposes.

Semiconductor chips have many different segments. In the immediate future, Vietnam's production capacity cannot meet the demand for manufacturing the latest technology chips, but it can create chips used in consumer electronics such as IoT devices and home appliances.

In fact, single chips still account for 50% or more in quantity on the market and can be produced using the 28-32 nm technology of the factory that Viettel is building. Currently, this is still a popular technology and responds very well to the electronics industry.

- What strengths and advantages does Vietnam have to develop the semiconductor chip industry?

- Vietnam has two great advantages.

First, as a late mover, we can learn from experience and avoid the failures that other countries have encountered. Specifically, building production processes, packaging and testing processes, and planning to develop infrastructure for electricity, water, and rare materials effectively. The time from starting construction until putting our chip factory into operation can be shorter than in previous countries, shortening the capital recovery time and quickly bringing products to market.

Second, in terms of human resources, Vietnam has an increasingly expanding source of students in the fields of semiconductor circuits and artificial intelligence, as well as neighboring scientific and technical fields. This is the right direction of the Government, creating a supply of high quality engineers for the semiconductor industry in the future. Meanwhile, in Southeast Asian countries or in the world in general, this human resource tends to decrease.

- But there are opinions that Vietnam lacks investment capital?

- With a 28-32 nm technology chip factory like Viettel deploys, I estimate the capital needed to invest could be about 2 billion USD. In addition, the cost of maintaining and operating the plant each year could be about 300 million USD. These are indeed big numbers, but not beyond Vietnam's capacity for a strategic technology.

Talking about technology or semiconductor devices, I don't think that's the key point, because we can buy and transfer this generation of technology.

- So what are the weaknesses and bottlenecks that need to be resolved in Vietnamese semiconductors?

- Of course the picture is not entirely rosy. Within the human resource advantage, there are points that can be done better. Over the past 10 years, Marvell has built a team of engineers from students studying at universities in Vietnam with a solid foundation in basic science (math, physics, chemistry, electronics, computers), good critical thinking, progressive spirit, and eager to learn. But we must also recognize the reality that the quality of Vietnamese students is not as good as the world's leading schools in terms of expertise, project experience, and soft skills.

In my opinion, the top priority for developing the semiconductor industry should be to develop human resources in large numbers, of uniformly high quality, with enough capacity to be ready to work right after graduation without having to go through a long process of additional training at the enterprise.

Infrastructure is also a point that needs improvement to ensure domestic chip production. Vietnam's electricity and water supply is not adequate and stable when compared to some neighboring countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia or Thailand. The undersea fiber optic cable network system is also not on par with neighboring countries.

Infrastructure is a factor that requires large, synchronous investment from the Government and energy and telecommunications businesses to meet the development needs of the semiconductor industry.

- After having the product, what links does Vietnam still need to form a complete semiconductor industry ecosystem?

- When developing the semiconductor chip industry or high-tech industries in general, sometimes we focus too much on what we can do but we forget a very important thing: which output and products can meet the needs of customers and the market. Here the coordinating and supporting role of the state will be needed. Without a market, even if we have the products and technology, the industry will not develop.

First, the electronics industry in Vietnam must be ready to open up to use domestic chips. Currently, due to many factors, most Vietnamese electronic products use Chinese or Taiwanese chips. We need to have a unified policy from the state to encourage the use or protection of Vietnamese chips.

Second, domestic IC design enterprises, with design lines that domestic production capacity can meet, need to cooperate with Viettel and FPT to produce chips at reasonable prices or more competitive than foreign products available on the market. This can be done through the Government's production support and subsidy program to promote the development of domestic chips.

With those factors, we will create coordination from design to production, putting chips into use for the domestic electronics industry. This is how we can take advantage of having all three stages to form a complete chain, creating momentum for Vietnam's semiconductor industry to continue to develop.

Nam Nguyen