Semiconductor firms in Vietnam struggling to recruit chip design engineers: expert

Several semiconductor firms in Vietnam are struggling to recruit engineers, particularly chip design specialists, said an expert.

Nguyen Thanh Yen, administrator of the Vietnam microchip community - a forum for semiconductor engineers and director of semiconductor design provider CoAsia Semi Vietnam, added that businesses are reluctant to hire inexperienced graduates.

According to the Vietnam microchip community, Vietnam has around 5,000 chip design engineers working for 47 companies at present. Of these, 30 firms have fewer than 100 engineers each and do not have long-term plans to recruit graduates every year.

Meanwhile, around five companies employ half of the 5,000 engineers and are generally more willing to hire graduates. However, they are now scaling down their recruitment of graduates because many of their highly-trained staff have been poached by competitors.

“Vietnam’s chip design workforce is at risk of stagnating at 5,000,” Yen warned.

Earlier, at a conference on integrated circuits (IC), Nguyen Cuong Hoang, head of the semiconductor technology division at state-run Viettel, had said that Viettel aimed to employ 20-30 IC engineers annually, but only managed to recruit around 10.

Yen recommended three solutions to increase chip design manpower, the first being the consolidation of basic IC-oriented knowledge among students.

Secondly, schools and training facilities need to cooperate with businesses in teaching IC-oriented subjects, helping students become familiar with and proficient in specialized software and tools. This should be combined with opportunities for students to interact with future employers.

Thirdly, advanced training programs should be provided to upgrade the skills of existing 5,000 Vietnamese engineers.

Vietnam has set a goal of training 50,000 semiconductor engineers by 2030. At an April conference on semiconductor manpower development, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Duy Dong had said that the local semiconductor sector can employ 15,000 designers, 35,000 factory engineers and 154,000 indirect workers by 2030.