From Vietnam to Silicon Valley: engineer climbs up ladder at the world’s top semiconductor firms

The 42-year-old is senior manager and product engineer at SanDisk, the multinational technology company based in Silicon Valley in the U.S.

SanDisk is best known for its flash memory products, including memory cards, USB flash drives and solid-state drives. At SanDisk, he leads the development of NAND flash memory for consumer electronics, data centers and AI applications. He also oversees product testing and optimization and automation.

Before joining SanDisk, he worked at Qimonda, a German semiconductor company specializing in DRAM, as well as at Advantest Corporation and Micron Technology, the largest memory and storage semiconductor firm in the U.S.

"I feel happy and proud knowing that the products I help build are widely used around the world," he says.

He grew up in Thanh Hoa Province in central Vietnam, and studied chemistry at Lam Son High School for the Gifted. His teachers often challenged students with university-level problems.

"This helped me develop the ability to explore unfamiliar areas of knowledge, which became a vital skill for my future career."

Nguyen Song Anh. Photo courtesy of Anh

He moved to the U.S. in 2000 on a student exchange program and initially planned to study computer science. But after two years of trying different courses at Old Dominion University in Virginia, he switched to electrical engineering with a minor in computer engineering. The curriculum covered circuitry, semiconductors, electronics, and computer systems. He was drawn to how closely the two fields complemented each other, giving him a solid foundation in both hardware and software.

At the time, Virginia was shifting focus to semiconductor development. Professors encouraged students to pursue careers in the field, which Song Anh saw as full of opportunity. That belief was reinforced during his internship at Siemens VDO Automotive, a German automotive electronics firm, where he found many German engineers had relocated to the U.S. for work.

Determined to seize the opportunity, he enrolled in every semiconductor, electrical and computer engineering class available. After completing his bachelor’s degree, he pursued a master’s in electrical engineering. To deepen his industry knowledge, he sought guidance from professors and tracked tech company revenues, hiring trends and recruitment requirements through news and market research.

In 2007 he secured an internship at Micron Technology. After a rigorous interview process and passing tests on topics from materials and circuitry to semiconductor devices, he joined as a product test engineering intern.

The experience confirmed he was well-suited for the industry. Working at a major firm gave him hands-on access to advanced equipment he had never encountered at university. After graduation, he joined Qimonda as a parameter test engineer for transistors and microchip components at its wafer fabrication plant.

Although Qimonda was the world’s second-largest DRAM producer in 2007, it was soon severely affected by the global financial crisis. As layoffs intensified and the future became uncertain, he realized not everything would go as planned and began preparing himself to adapt.

"Back then I worked every day as if it were my last. I knew that if I wanted the company to thrive, I had to give my all."

As the crisis deepened, he looked for a way back to Micron and rejoined the company in 2008.

U.S. semiconductor companies each follow their own specialized production and engineering systems, and their engineers and technicians go through extensive training. At Micron, for instance, he attended a two-week bootcamp starting at 5:30 a.m. every day at the factory.

The role came with a steep learning curve. Each week he read technical documents, simulated circuit designs and learned how the products functioned. He collaborated across departments to develop chip testing programs. "This stage was challenging because it required a great deal of perseverance."

He also had to adapt to the company’s work culture. After five years he had become proficient in DRAM and NAND flash technologies.

Among his most memorable projects was being assigned to the NOR flash integration team following Micron’s acquisition of semiconductor company Numonyx. His new teammates, many of whom came from Intel in California, had a different work style, making it hard to align at first. For three years he studied the product, wrote simulation code and familiarized himself with the team’s systems and processes.

"I also felt pressure to prove my value."

Nguyen Song Anh. Photo courtesy of Anh

Loh Suan Bin, former director of product engineering at Western Digital (now SanDisk), interviewed Anh for the senior manager’s role.

He says: "I was very impressed with his ability to develop wafer test processes and his expertise in high-speed package-level testing techniques.
"He also had a commendable ability to apply knowledge and experience from previous roles to his current position."

Throughout his career, Anh has followed a clear strategy: improve year by year in both results and technical skill. After building a strong foundation over seven years he set a goal to learn a new specialization every three years while continuing to build on his existing strengths.

After years in manufacturing and product development, he took on a customer-facing technical support role at Advantest Corporation. He now works at SanDisk in a leadership role that bridges engineering and the market.

"Setting goals gives me a clear direction. It forces me to level up in order to progress steadily, and that builds confidence."

Reflecting on his journey, he says he was fortunate to have mentors early in his career. Now, as a senior leader, he wants to support younger engineers, especially students in Vietnam, and help shorten their path to top global companies.

Together with some other professionals in Silicon Valley, he co-founded the VISEMI Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to sharing semiconductor knowledge with Vietnamese talent. The initiative quickly gained international support, including backing from Vietnam’s National Innovation Center.

VISEMI’s mission is to "unlock Vietnamese talent in semiconductors," beginning with online seminars and expanding to mentoring, career guidance and advanced training.

He hopes that in five or 10 years Vietnam’s semiconductor community will be globally recognized for its talent. "Working with Vietnamese colleagues in the industry will no longer be a distant dream."