Vietnam most appealing investment destination: US semiconductor industry

Accompanying him to the meeting Thursday with the PM were the heads of top American semiconductor firms, including Intel, Qualcomm, Ampere, ARM.

"The U.S. semiconductor industry is short on manpower," Neffeur said.

"Since Covid-19, the Vietnamese [semiconductor] workforce has been making up for this shortage. Vietnam is the most attractive destination for American investors in the semiconductor industry and could play the role of a strategic partner who supplies labor."

The trade association praised Vietnam for remarkable progress its semiconductor industry has made, becoming a crucial link in the global supply chain.

Neffeur looked forward to Vietnam’s plan for growing its semiconductor industry and hoped the country would take the opportunity to make new progress, particularly in chip designing, which does not require as much investment as manufacturing.

Chinh said Vietnam is developing a strategy to expand its workforce and attract industry-leading foreign firms through incentives.

It currently has around 6,000 engineers working for domestic and foreign chip companies, and by 2030 would have 50,000 highly skilled engineers, especially in semiconductor designing, he said.

He spoke about the agreement to develop science and technology and innovation under the recently established Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the U.S. and Vietnam, and said resources need to be allocated to key sectors, notably semiconductors.

He and the American executives agreed that collaboration between the two countries could be mutually beneficial.

He instructed the Ministry of Planning and Investment and other government agencies to map out the collaboration with the SIA.

He said the SIA should urge the U.S. government to recognize Vietnam as a market economy and remove unnecessary limitations on technology transfer, workforce development and research lab construction and support Vietnamese businesses in the American semiconductor supply chain.

In September the SIA president and industry executives had promised Chinh they would organize more visits to survey Vietnam’s potential and connect businesses in the two countries.

SIA members account for 99% of all U.S. semiconductor industry sales.