Start the "race" into the fields of microchip design and semiconductor technology

Human resource demand in the semiconductor chip industry in the next 5 years is about 20,000 people and in the next 10 years is about 50,000 people (illustrative photo)

Although they are strong in training in Information Technology, this year, top universities such as Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Da Nang University of Technology, Can Tho University, FPT University have announced for the first time opening the Semiconductor Microchip Technology major. Previously, three member universities of Ho Chi Minh City National University, namely Polytechnic, Information Technology and Natural Sciences, were also approved to open the Microchip Design and Semiconductor Technology majors.

According to forecasts by some economic experts, the total demand for human resources in the semiconductor chip industry in the next 5 years is about 20,000 people and in the next 10 years about 50,000 people (from university level and above). Currently, the number of microchip design personnel in our country is only about 5,000 people. According to experts, the training demand in the coming time will be about 3,000 people/year, of which the number of postgraduate graduates accounts for at least 30% (including level 7 engineers, masters, doctors).

To provide high-quality human resources to meet recruitment needs, schools that open majors in Microcircuit Design and Semiconductor Technology have carefully prepared the necessary and sufficient conditions. For example, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology has a team of 200 lecturers in the Department of Electrical - Electronics, Computer Science and Engineering, and Materials Technology who have been trained at the doctoral level from countries with advanced semiconductor microcircuit industries such as the US, Germany, France, Australia, Japan, Korea, etc. and the school has also built a microcircuit curriculum for decades.

Some schools such as the University of Technology and the University of Danang are looking for sponsorship for copyrighted software specialized in microchip design from Renesas (Japan) and Cadence (USA); and sponsoring modern electronic measurement equipment for the Keysight (USA) laboratory. In addition, the training program also adds knowledge related to very large-scale integrated circuits (VLSI), analog and mixed microchips, physical design, packaging and testing, systems on chips (SoC), from the foundation of the Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering industry.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, in the context of strong development of science and technology, especially in the fields of electronics, semiconductors, microchips, serving electronic machinery and digital transformation, the trend of shifting supply sources is taking place in the world and in the region. World technology corporations are looking for suitable locations to set up production and research facilities, including the US - a technology powerhouse.

Vietnam’s leading universities of technology are relatively ready in terms of training capacity, meeting the human resource requirements in the fields of semiconductors, microchips, research, development and production of semiconductor materials, design and production of microchips. The most suitable training majors are Electronic Engineering, Electronics - Telecommunications, Electrical Engineering, Control and Automation, Mechatronics, etc. Therefore, training high-quality, qualified human resources in microchip design is an important and urgent issue in the current context.

HOANG HUONG

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