On the morning of January 16 in Hanoi, the Military Industry and Telecommunications Group (Viettel) officially broke ground on the construction of Vietnam’s first semiconductor chip manufacturing plant. General Secretary To Lam, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, along with senior leaders of the Party and the State, attended the ceremony.

The project is being implemented by Viettel under an assignment from the Ministry of National Defense, in accordance with a Government resolution. This marks a historic milestone, as Vietnam, for the first time, establishes domestic semiconductor fabrication capabilities, laying a critical foundation for gradually mastering core technologies and developing a homegrown semiconductor ecosystem.

The plant is being built at the Hoa Lac High-Tech Park in Hanoi, covering an area of 27 hectares, with the vision of becoming national infrastructure serving research, design, testing, and manufacturing of semiconductor chips. Once operational, the facility is expected to meet the needs of key national industries, including aerospace, telecommunications, the Internet of Things (IoT), automotive manufacturing, medical devices, and industrial automation.

According to Viettel, a complete semiconductor chip product must go through six main stages: product definition, system design, detailed design, chip fabrication, packaging and testing, and integration and validation. In recent years, Vietnam has gradually participated in five of these stages; however, chip fabrication, the most complex and critical stage, has not yet been feasible domestically. The construction of this semiconductor manufacturing plant will enable Vietnam to complete and localize the entire semiconductor production process.

Semiconductor fabrication is among the most sophisticated and discipline-intensive technological processes today. From a silicon wafer of near-absolute purity, a chip is formed through approximately 1,000 consecutive technological steps over a period of three months. Even the slightest deviation at any stage can disrupt the entire production line, demanding exceptionally high levels of organization, management, and technological mastery.

For Viettel, being entrusted with leading the implementation of the semiconductor fabrication plant represents a continuation of its long-term strategy to develop core technologies. Over many years, the Group has proactively prepared its human resources through specialized training, international cooperation, and technology transfer, while accumulating experience from research, design, and the application of chips in various technological systems and products.

The project is scheduled to be implemented during the 2026–2030 period, following a roadmap that progresses from plant construction and technology acquisition to process optimization and enhanced operational efficiency. In the long term, the Hòa Lạc facility is planned for scalable expansion, providing a foundation for Vietnam to gradually access more advanced semiconductor technologies.

The groundbreaking of this high-tech semiconductor chip manufacturing plant represents a significant milestone in Vietnam’s journey to build national technological capabilities, contributing to the realization of the goal of “Technological Self-Reliance for a Sustainable Future.”