Da Nang to develop human resources for semiconductor industry

Vietnam’s semiconductor industry needs about 10,000 engineers produced every year, but the current rate is less than 20 percent of that. In fact, the number of engineers has only been growing by around 500 a year, according to a report by the Vietnam Microchip Community.

Da Nang will attract high-quality human resources in the semiconductor industry

Most of Vietnam’s semiconductor engineers are currently working for foreign firms. In Da Nang City, there are a number of foreign companies operating in IC design such as Synopsys, Uniquify, Savarti, Renesas, Synapse, Fptsemi, Sannei Hytechs... employing about 550 trained engineers 80 percent of whom graduating from the University of Science and Technology. The potential and demand for human resources in the field of semiconductor in the coming time is large.

According to experts, there are still many difficulties in developing human resources in the semiconductor industry. Assoc. Prof., Dr. Huynh Cong Phap, Rector of the Vietnam-Korea ICT University, said most training institutions have difficulties in recruiting experienced lecturers and investment in operating experiment systems for this area.

Similarly, Assoc. Prof., Dr. Ha Dac Binh - Rector of Duy Tan University - said that semiconductor industry attracts few students because it requires learners to have a background in STEM as well as foreign language proficiency to work in foreign projects.

Assoc. Prof., Dr. Nguyen Hong Hai – Vice Rector of Da Nang University of Science and Technology - said that the number of students working in the field of microchips and semiconductors only accounts for about 10 percent of the total number of graduates each year. In 2024, the school plans to open a new microelectronics major to train “circuit design” engineers. It will also expand connectivity with big universities in the country on training and research on ICs; and invite experts from IC design companies for giving lectures and recruitment at the university.

According to Truong Gia Binh - Chairman of FPT Corporation, to develop semiconductor human resources, Da Nang can cooperate with universities and research institutes to open training courses, adopt policies to attract high-quality workforce, and create a friendly investment environment to attract domestic and international investors to build semiconductor factories in Da Nang.

Secretary of Da Nang City’s Party Committee Nguyen Van Quang said that to promote the development of the semiconductor industry, Da Nang would build a project to develop human resources in this field, at the same time, immediately offer an accelerated training program by selecting and attracting engineers in the field of microchips and semiconductors (new graduates) for in-depth training in these areas. Da Nang’s universities will have specific plans for human resource training for this industry and invite experts to transfer knowledge and share experience in the field.

In addition, Da Nang will add the semiconductor industry to the city’s investment portfolio for further development of semiconductor products, especially carry out a comprehensive review of existing microchip and semiconductor businesses in the city to propose initial support policies for businesses in this field.