According to the HCM City Information and Communication Department Le Thai Hy, of 12 key tasks set for the department in 2016, encouraging the development of the IC industry is the top priority.
Hy believes that HCM City’s IC industry has great development potential because Vietnam has many markets nearby, including Japan.
After 10 years of developing IC as a key industrial product, the city has gained initial encouraging achievements. Modem GSM for remote data collection, electronic galvanometer, radioactive source management and positioning system, Container CTS-01 monitoring system and X200 automobile surveillance equipment all bear the hallmarks of Vietnam-made chips.
Vietnam-made chips have also been applied in smart lightening system and traffic management system. Most recently, it has been utilized to help prevent frauds at filling stations.
However, as Hy admitted, it is very difficult to find the markets for made-by-Vietnam chips and to connect enterprises which develop products based on the chips.
He has called on the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) to set up barriers to protect the domestic IC industry and create favorable conditions for Vietnamese IC manufacturers to win bids to carry out electronics production projects.
“There are about five IC manufacturers and most of them cooperate with Chinese enterprises. It is very difficult for domestic manufacturers to market their products,” Hy commented.
There is another challenge for the HCM City IC industry development is the lack of workers. It is estimated that the city needs 2,000 engineers for the industry. Meanwhile, in the last three years, the city can train 250 high-quality workers only for other localities and national defence as well.
Dang Luong Mo, senior advisor to the Integrated Circuit Design Research & Education Center (ICDREC), when stressing that made-by-Vietnam chips need support to be brought into life, suggested that MIC create policies to encourage equipment manufacturers to use the chips.
Mo, known as the person who laid the foundation for the establishment of ICDREC in August 2005, believes that Vietnam, with the population of 93 million, is a large market. It would be better for it to master key technologies, including the IC manufacturing one.
In order to improve the competitiveness of the chips made by ICDREC, Mo said the center is applying SOTB (Silicon On Thin Buried Oxide) technology, with which the next-generation chips would be made in accordance with the 65 nanometer process, thus allowing to cut energy consumption by 2/3.
“Vietnam’s IC industry has made a big leap since 2002, when I returned to Vietnam to settle down,” Mo said.
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