US chip firm Synopsys, Danang city to cooperate in workforce training

Synopsys, a leading chip business based in California, and the authorities of Vietnam’s central city of Danang, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on workforce training for the semiconductor industry.

The agreement was signed in San Francisco, on the sidelines of Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong’s working trip to the U.S. to attend the APEC 2023 summit, Synopsis said Thursday.

According to the MoU, Synopsis will support Danang IC Design Incubation center, particularly in connecting engineers trained at the incubation center with job opportunities at domestic and foreign semiconductor businesses.

The cooperation is part of Danang city’s efforts to reform its economic model, with a focus on high-technology, information technology (IT), innovation, smart city, digital economy, digital governance, and others, the provincial authorities said.

The signed deal is the third MoU signed between Synopsis and Vietnamese authorities, after two ones signed in September, during a visit to the U.S. by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. One of the September MoUs is between Synopsis and the National Innovation Center (NIC), run by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, in workforce training.

The other is with the Authority of Information and Communication Technologies Industry (AICTI) of Vietnam, under the country’s Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), to set up an initial research and development (R&D) fabrication plant (fab) and facilitate R&D fab production capability in Vietnam.

Synopsis affirmed that it has long believed that Vietnam holds great promise as an important part of the global semiconductor supply chain.

Doing business in Vietnam since 2005, Synopsys opened its first office in the country in 2016. Today, it operates four offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Danang. Of the 500 employees there, approximately 400 are in R&D roles.