INT2 CEO Dr. Nguyen Viet Cuong was interviewed by the People’s Army Newspaper (Bao Quan Doi Nhan Dan) on opportunities for Vietnam’s semiconductor industry, published on September 24, 2023.
In the article, titled “Golden opportunity for Vietnam’s semiconductor industry”, Dr. Cuong discussed three key points:
First, Vietnam should not miss the opportunity to attract retiring semiconductor scientists from around the world. He drew a parallel with South Korea, whose semiconductor industry was originally built by retired Japanese experts. “The advantage is that wherever these scientists go, the companies they previously worked for tend to follow,” he noted. He urged the government and universities to create mechanisms to attract these experts, particularly those of Vietnamese origin.
Second, Dr. Cuong cited estimates available at the time that placed Viet Nam among the countries with the world’s largest rare-earth reserves, after China. He recommended using this as leverage in negotiations with partners requiring these raw materials, by requiring them to build manufacturing facilities in Vietnam as a condition for access. This would create opportunities for training and technology transfer.
Third, drawing from INT2’s own experience in supercomputing, Dr. Cuong illustrated the challenges of technology dependency: while computing hardware can be purchased readily, specialised interconnect equipment must be imported from a limited number of foreign suppliers with lead times of approximately one year.
He also cited China’s example of requiring foreign equipment suppliers to provide source code for security purposes, which he noted enabled the creation of Ruijie Networks, described in the interview as now among the world’s top four network equipment manufacturers.
The article was originally published by the People’s Army Newspaper (qdnd.vn) and syndicated by Lang Son Newspaper.