Essential for Vietnamese businesses to penetrate the international cleanroom market

Opportunity to capture domestic market

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Viet Dung, Vice President of the Vietnam Association of Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineering (VISRAE), Vice Principal of the School of Mechanical Engineering - Hanoi University of Science and Technology, said that the clean room market in the world is growing continuously to meet the strong development needs of the electronic components manufacturing industry (including chip manufacturing), nanotechnology, precision equipment, aerospace industry, defense industry, pharmaceutical industry, medical industry (operating room, intensive care room...), biotechnology (virus and cell research...), food technology,...

According to international assessment reports, it is estimated that the global cleanroom market revenue will reach about 3.2-5 billion USD by 2024, maintaining a growth rate of 5%/year, not affected by the economic crisis.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Viet Dung. Photo: Binh Minh

In Vietnam, the increased investment of FDI enterprises as well as large domestic economic groups in the fields of manufacturing, assembling electronic components and equipment, pharmaceutical production - especially the Government 's orientation to focus on investment in the semiconductor industry and chip manufacturing - leads to a huge increase in the demand for clean rooms in the coming years.

Previously, most of the clean room equipment market in Vietnam was provided by foreign companies. This is a complex field, integrating many high technologies such as: precision air conditioning, nano-level dust filtration and sterilization technology, precision mechanics and automation, microelectronics, etc.

Vietnamese enterprises are mainly installation contractors, some enterprises also provide design and consulting solutions.

However, in recent years, domestic enterprises have emerged to provide complete cleanroom solutions and equipment. A typical example is Intech Group - a pioneer in investing in cleanroom research and development (R&D). At the end of 2022, this enterprise successfully researched and manufactured a cleanroom that achieved the highest level in the world according to the US NEBB standard - an event that was evaluated by the Ministry of Science & Technology as one of the 10 science and technology events of the year.

The reputation and brand of Intech cleanrooms, which are of international standards and owned by Vietnamese people in the Vietnamese market, have begun to be affirmed. Due to domestic production and assembly, the equipment has a reasonable price and is easier to maintain, repair and upgrade than imported equipment. This is a remarkable competitive advantage.

“The rapid growth trend of the electronics – semiconductor industry as well as the pharmaceutical industry combined with the demand of traditional sectors leads to the strong growth of the Vietnamese cleanroom market. The advantages of distance, lower R&D and integrated production costs than abroad, faster equipment delivery time, etc. create opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises to rise up and dominate the domestic cleanroom market,” Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Viet Dung analyzed.

Experts predict that the cleanroom market in Vietnam will see the participation of more and more diverse suppliers and consultants from many countries around the world, as cleanrooms increasingly demonstrate their important, even indispensable role in high-tech manufacturing plants. Meanwhile, the activities of Vietnamese enterprises in the cleanroom sector are still very small and fragmented.

Faced with fierce competition from "foreign" rivals with extensive experience, strong financial, technological and human resources, if Vietnamese businesses do not cooperate and join together to increase their strength, the risk of losing "at home" can still occur.

Need to invest systematically, prioritize human factors

Comparing the level of R&D investment in the clean room sector of Vietnamese organizations and enterprises with that of the region and the world, Mr. Dung frankly admitted: Clean room is still a new high-tech field in Vietnam.

Vietnam’s R&D investment in this field is still very low compared to the world. However, with a potential domestic market, it is hoped that there will be businesses that succeed at home and then expand internationally, similar to the field of manufacturing heat exchange equipment or industrial boilers.

“Clean rooms are a high-tech field. If domestic enterprises invest properly, focus on the 'brainpower' factor, human capacity, and develop products that meet high technical standards, then reaching out to the international market, first of all to South Asia and Southeast Asia, as some refrigeration equipment manufacturers have done, is completely feasible,” said the Vice President of VISRAE.

In order for Vietnamese cleanroom enterprises to improve their competitiveness in the global value chain, they need to prepare the human factor first. Photo: Binh Minh

One issue of concern is the downside of clean room technology, which consumes a lot of electricity and emits huge amounts of greenhouse gases. This is also one of the main factors that causes electricity consumption in the refrigeration and air conditioning sector to nearly double in the period 2016-2030, reaching about 30% of the total commercial electricity output in the world.

According to the leader of VISRAE, to ensure the reduction of net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to CO2 reaching "0", it is necessary to change equipment technology, move towards solutions using more environmentally friendly refrigerants, improve the energy efficiency of the system, and increase the use of renewable energy combined with heat storage and cold storage.

But on the other hand, when clean rooms are still a new technology in Vietnam, this is an opportunity for Vietnamese businesses to invest directly in new technology without having to consider the depreciation factor of existing technology, he noted.

However, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Viet Dung emphasized: “Clean room is a high-tech, complex field. Therefore, investing in this field is not simple, it needs to be done step by step, methodically and long-term. In particular, in addition to daring to invest in risky things, the human factor must be prepared first.”

On the other hand, in the field of clean room R&D, there needs to be coordination between universities, research institutes and enterprises building laboratories to enhance the ability to master technology, thereby researching and creating many technologies in this important and potential field.

"In my opinion, clean room businesses should cooperate and exchange information, have certain agreements, and should not compete with each other on price, leading to the provision of poor quality equipment," Mr. Dung recommended.

According to a report by Exactitude Consultancy, the cleanroom technology market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5%, reaching over $7.9 billion by 2029.

Growing concerns regarding tightening regulations regarding packaging, manufacturing, and delivery of high-quality products will drive the growth of the cleanroom technology market. The Asia-Pacific market is expected to witness impressive growth owing to technological developments and product portfolio expansion by many key players in this high-tech sector.

Vietnamnet.vn

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/dieu-toi-can-thiet-de-doanh-nghiep-viet-xam-nhap-thi-truong-phong-sach-quoc-te-2297075.html