Vietnam aims to become a leading country in ASEAN and East Asia in chip production, with deeper participation in the global production and supply chain by 2030, according to an expert.

Nguyen Quan, Chairman of Vietnam Automation Association and former Minister of Science and Technology, said the elevation of the US - Vietnam relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership is a favourable condition to open up opportunities for the chip industry's development in Vietnam.

He believed that with enhanced collaboration between Vietnam and the US, many large enterprises in the field of semiconductors and chips will come to the Southeast Asian nation for cooperation and investment, thereby contributing to the development of the local semiconductor industry.

According to Quan, previously Vietnam did not have a semiconductor electronic material industry, even though its rare earth reserves were estimated to be the third largest in the world. Vietnam cooperated with Japan in the mining and processing of rare earth, the market demand at that time was too low.

At present, as the market is wider, with the technological and financial support from developed countries, rare earth resources will have an opportunity to be exploited and processed, creating raw materials for the local semiconductor industry.

Besides, domestic technology enterprises need to join the work as a key force to realise chip research and commercialisation. Taking FPT as an example, he said the firm, with financial potential, strong research teams and experience in software and information technology development, could take its advantages to invest in researching, designing, testing, manufacturing and commercialising chips.

According to him, opportunities and prosperts for Vietnam in the field is bright. The country might face difficulties in technology transfer, testing and production in the first few years, but it will overcome when it catches up with the global supply and production chain.

The country must demonstrate to the world its capacity and human resources in the semiconductor industry, he said.

In addition to international resources and investments from the world's major enterprises in this field, Vietnam needs to prepare internal resources and investment capital for chip research and production.

Vietnam must affirm its determination and consider the semiconductor industry as a breakthrough in the country's industrial development, he added.