 |
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met the Vietnamese staff of Synopsys in his business trip to the US (Photo: SGGP) |
In his business trip to the US lately, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh witnessed the ceremony to sign a memorandum of understanding between the National Innovation Center and Synopsys – a leading group on automation of electronic designs. Accordingly, Synopsys will help Vietnam to establish the Microchip Research Center.
Meanwhile, the National Innovation Center is preparing necessary infrastructure for a microchip designing incubation center in Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park in Hanoi. It will use cutting-edge technologies of Synopsys in model creation and simulation in order to optimize corresponding software, to synchronize System on Chip (SoC) designs in the hardware. These are considered important preparation steps for the microchip industry in the country.
Prof. Dr. Dang Luong Mo, expert in the microchip industry, commented that the business trip to the US of the Prime Minister, along with recent activities to improve the designing and manufacturing of microchip products, to train capable human resources in the field, has shown the attention of the Government to the development of this industry, which means the key to technology growth of each country.
“The effort to restructure the global supply chain of international technology giants has given great opportunities for developing countries, including Vietnam, to participate more in the supply chain of the microchip industry”, said Nguyen Anh Thi – Head of the Management Board of Saigon Hi-tech Park (SHTP). Citing the appearance of SamSung, Intel, and other famous technology corporations in SHTP, he added that Vietnam is considered to have a huge potential to enter such a chain as long as it has suitable mechanisms and policies to attract investment from nations strong in this industry.
Owning capable human capital is also a critical preparation step for the growth of the microchip industry. In HCMC, SHTP has formed a training center for this purpose, called Electronics and Semiconductor Center – ESC, where Synopsys Vietnam is going to supply essential software for the training process. The center aims at becoming a large-scale microchip training center that answers the demands of major investors and attracts international cooperation programs in the future.
At present, members of Vietnam National University – HCM are launching their own training curricula for the microchip industry. In addition, global microchip design corporations are seeking potential staff in Vietnam. Some like Marvell Technology Inc. (the US) even established their Semiconductor Design Center in HCMC. They have chosen Vietnam thanks to its dynamic and politically stable features.
Several Vietnamese businesses such as Viettel, FPT also expand their scope to cover the microchip aspect with clear goals in mind. For instance, in September, FPT Semiconductor (under FPT Software) launched its first line of microchip, used in IoT products for the medical field. The line of Integrated Circuit (IC) has been directly designed and structured by engineers in FPT Semiconductor to serve specific industries and to attach in particular products. In the next two years, the company is going to release 25 million microchip units globally. It is planning to introduce 7 different chip lines this year in the fields of technology, telecoms, and IoT.
Prof. Dr. Dang Luong Mo concluded that after 20 years of preparation, this is a high time for Vietnam to develop its microchip industry. The support of the Government in attracting investments and the readiness of domestic manufacturers will surely help to achieve great breakthroughs in the near future.
