Microchip production by SPARTON Company (USA) in Binh Duong. Photo: Le Toan
Investing in the semiconductor chip industry
In early July 2024, a delegation from NVIDIA Group led by Dr. Ettikan Karuppiah, Chief Technology Officer of the Asia-Pacific region, led the delegation and continued to visit Ho Chi Minh City to survey and exchange cooperation possibilities in the future. The delegation had a meeting with the Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to discuss AI development training issues for the City; support start-up development (AI businesses); established AI Center of Excellence.
This is the second working session of NVIDIA Group with a number of universities and businesses in Ho Chi Minh City since the visit to Vietnam of billionaire Jensen Huang, Chairman and General Director of NVIDIA Group. This shows that the opportunity for investment cooperation with the world's leading technology corporation is very open when NVIDIA has made the first cooperation agreements with FPT Group to open an AI factory in Vietnam.
Another US technology "giant", Marvell Group - an enterprise specializing in chip design, also accelerated the expansion of chip design centers in Vietnam. In mid-May 2024, Marvell announced the opening of another chip design center in Da Nang and is preparing to open another center in Ho Chi Minh City after investing in a design center here.
Talking with reporters from Investment Newspaper, Dr. Loi Nguyen, Senior Vice President of cloud optical connectivity of Marvell Group, said that Marvell's design centers in Vietnam will focus on designing new microchip technology chips to meet demand. in performance, the ever-increasing speed of cloud data centers and artificial intelligence.
“Marvell Vietnam aims to become Marvell's third largest IC design center globally in the next 2-3 years, after the main centers in the United States and the Indian branch. The opening of a chip design center in Da Nang not only strengthens Marvell's long-term commitment to the Vietnamese market, but is also an important step towards the goal of developing a classy IC design center. world right in Vietnam," Mr. Loi Nguyen shared.
Not only chip design businesses, chip and semiconductor manufacturing businesses are also accelerating investment and expansion in Vietnam in general and in Ho Chi Minh City in particular. Among them, the Dutch semiconductor enterprise BE Semiconductor Industries (BESI) must be mentioned. After only a few months of putting the project into operation in phase I, this enterprise immediately applied for a license to expand investment. Phase II at Ho Chi Minh City High-Tech Park (SHTP), with investment capital of 42 million USD. This is rarely seen in FDI enterprises, because usually after operating phase I, investors must re-evaluate efficiency before investing in expansion. However, with BESI, they saw the potential and opportunity in investing in the microchip and semiconductor industry in Ho Chi Minh City, so they quickly applied for phase II investment.
Besides Ho Chi Minh City, neighboring localities such as Binh Duong and Dong Nai also receive the attention of many investors in investing in chip and semiconductor projects. In early April this year, Tokyu Group (Japan) met with leaders of Binh Duong province to review the Group's plan to develop new projects here. Mr. Hirohisa Fujiwara, International Business Director of Tokyu Group, said that Tokyu has established research and survey teams to expand investment in a number of new fields such as high technology, semiconductor technology... during this period. next. In particular, the Group learns to invest in the semiconductor technology industry in Binh Duong.
Vietnamese businesses also participate in the
investment race to develop the microchip and semiconductor industry, not only receiving the attention of foreign investors, but domestic investors also continuously send proposals to the City People's Committee. HCM would like to invest in the project. In mid-June 2024, Vncurved Company sent a document to the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City proposing to build a chip testing and packaging factory.
Meanwhile, Dong Duong Construction Trading Joint Stock Company has sent a document to the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City proposing investment in an Innovation Technology Park with an area of 350 - 400 hectares, specializing in attracting chip manufacturing and testing businesses. .
Currently, localities in the Southern Key Economic Region prioritize attracting investment in projects from technology corporations leading production chains that use high technology and do not consider expansion or extension. operating on projects using outdated technology, potentially causing environmental pollution.
Mr. Nguyen Tri Phuong, Head of the Industrial Park Management Board of Dong Nai province, said that in the first 6 months of 2024, projects attracting investment into industrial parks in Dong Nai are mainly in the semiconductor and semiconductor manufacturing industries. electrical and electronic accessories; mechanical engineering. There are no projects in the list of industries that cause environmental pollution or are labor-intensive.
Data center investment trends
Along with the semiconductor chip industry, data center investment is a quite hot field today, a series of investors are racing to propose building data centers in Ho Chi Minh City. After the Military Industry and Telecommunications Group (Viettel) invested in a data center with a capital of 14,700 billion VND in Tan Phu Trung Industrial Park (Cu Chi district) last year, many domestic and foreign businesses rushed to Proposal to invest in a data center in Ho Chi Minh City High-Tech Park.
Among them, we must mention a number of famous corporations such as Hyosung Group (Korea); Hathor DC Vietnam Holdings Pte. Ltd - a subsidiary of Evolution Data Centers Group (Singapore); Coteccons Construction Joint Stock Company... These businesses officially sent documents to Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee in May and June 2024, proposing to be investors of the project.
According to updated information from the Management Board of Ho Chi Minh City Hi-Tech Park, up to now there have been 5 investors wanting to invest in the Hi-Tech Park Data Center Project.
Mr. Tran Viet Ha, Deputy Head of the Management Board of Ho Chi Minh City Industrial and Export Processing Zones (Hepza), commented that data center investment is a new investment trend in industrial parks and high-tech parks. . To attract businesses to invest in data centers, Hepza is promoting infrastructure investment in industrial parks to meet investor needs. Because investing in a data center requires a large, stable power source and backup power source for businesses to operate.
OPINION - COMMENTARY
The microchip and semiconductor industry attracts the attention of American businesses"
- Mr. Le Quang Dam, General Director of Marvell Vietnam
Recently, the microchip and semiconductor industry in Vietnam has attracted received the attention of American businesses. In particular, after Vietnam and the US upgraded their diplomatic relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership, new opportunities for cooperation in this field have opened up.
The goal of Vietnam becoming a regional semiconductor center is further reinforced by political stability, a young workforce and reasonable costs, open market policies and new investment attraction strategies. government.
For Marvell Company, one of the top priorities is to develop high-quality human resources for the semiconductor industry to meet the needs of microchip industry businesses in Vietnam that are forecast to grow strongly in the near future. .
"Economic cooperation between Vietnam and Korea will grow further"
- Mr. Choi Bundo, Chairman of the Korean Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (Kocham)
Upgrading the relationship between Vietnam and Korea to a comprehensive strategic partnership has had a positive impact on bilateral trade and investment relations between the two sides. This is reflected in Korea's foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam reaching 1.41 billion USD in the first 6 months of 2024. This figure marks an increase of 15.8% over the same period in 2023. and positioning Korea as the 4th largest investor among 84 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. Korean companies have expanded their investments into many different sectors, including manufacturing, real estate and retail.
South Korea's future investments in Vietnam will likely focus heavily on renewable energy such as solar energy and wind energy.
The next area that companies are increasing investment in Vietnam is advanced technology such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence and robotics. Korean companies will take advantage of Vietnam's skilled workforce and cost competitiveness to enhance global competitiveness.
In the field of digital transformation, Korean companies will expand investment in areas related to the digital economy, including e-commerce, financial technology and digital content.
These investment trends are expected to further strengthen economic cooperation between Vietnam and Korea, contributing to the sustainable growth of the Vietnamese economy.
Le Quan
According to Investment