Viet Nam likely to become world’s new semiconductor hub

Integrated Circuit dominates the semiconductor market with a projected market volume of US$16.44 billion in 2024.

Viet Nam is home to nearly 30 data centers, accounting for less than 1 percent of world’s total number.

The Southeast Asian nation targets to train 50,000 engineers between now and 2030 to embed itself further into the global chip supply chain.

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The country was well-positioned to play a role in all three stages and gains the interest of foreign investors by offering more incentives related to power supply, land, and manpower.

Last September, Viet Nam and the U.S. signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in semiconductor supply chain and human resources training.

Many leading semiconductor groups of the U.S. have committed to investing in the semiconductor industry of Viet Nam, including Intel, Amkor, Marvell and GlobalFoundries.

Bloomberg data shows that Viet Nam's chip exports to the U.S. increased from US$312.7 million in February 2022 to US$562.5 million in February 2023, accounting for 11.6 percent of the U.S. chip imports, next to Malaysia (20 percent) and Taiwan (China) (15.1 percent).

Ten years ago, Intel opened its over-one-billion-dollar assembly and testing plant in HCM City. Now, Amkor Technology follows suit with another plant in Bac Ninh Province, which began operation last month.

Samsung also plans to begin making semiconductor parts in Viet Nam. The production of its flip-chip ball grid array, a surface-mount packaging technology used for integrated circuits, is expected to kickstart later this year.

It is worth noting that Viet Nam is rich in rare earth metals (REM), which play a vital role in chip manufacturing.