The Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) on June 26 unveiled the Vietnam National Multi-Project Wafer Coordination Centre (VNMPW/CC) – the primary national centre devoted to supporting semiconductor chip prototyping, marking a key step in connecting home chip analysis and design with the worldwide semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem.
Addressing the occasion, Minister of Science and Technology Vu Hai Quan mentioned the centre demonstrates the ministry’s dedication to implement Vietnam’s semiconductor business growth technique by means of 2030 with a imaginative and prescient to 2050. He pressured that constructing a aggressive semiconductor business requires shut collaboration among the many Government, companies, analysis institutes, universities, home and overseas consultants, worldwide companions, traders and the start-up and innovation neighborhood.
The minister described the centre as a bridge that can progressively strengthen Vietnam’s technological self-reliance and assist place the nation as an vital hyperlink within the international semiconductor provide chain.
Vietnam presently lacks industrial-scale semiconductor manufacturing capability, whereas home analysis and prototyping infrastructure stays restricted. Research establishments, universities and chip design corporations have subsequently needed to depend on abroad foundries for prototype fabrication, leading to larger prices, longer growth cycles and slower commercialisation.
According to the ministry, tape-out prices presently vary from 30,000 USD to 200,000 USD per chip design, with manufacturing lead occasions sometimes lasting between 12 and 24 months. Vietnam’s semiconductor ecosystem now includes round 60 chip design corporations, some 7,000 chip design engineers and 166 universities providing semiconductor-related coaching programmes. Initial registrations from 12 organisations point out demand for the prototyping of roughly 30,000 chips.
Nguyen Khac Lich, Director of the ministry’s Authority of Information Technology Industry (AITI), mentioned the centre is anticipated to handle these bottlenecks by means of the Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) mannequin, which mixes a number of chip designs in a single fabrication run to scale back prices and shorten product growth time, thereby accelerating the event of “Make in Vietnam” semiconductor merchandise.
According to Lich, Vietnam should deal with a basic bottleneck with a view to transfer deeper into the worldwide semiconductor worth chain – the power to show chip designs into bodily semiconductor merchandise.
The centre’s institution marks an vital first step, reflecting the dedication of the MoST, the AITI, and the home semiconductor neighborhood to progressively grasp strategic applied sciences, take away growth bottlenecks, and construct a aggressive and sustainable semiconductor ecosystem, he mentioned.
Operating underneath the AITI, the centre will present shared infrastructure masking all the semiconductor growth course of, from chip design and prototyping to packaging, testing and commercialisation. It may even provide design instruments and verification companies whereas coordinating with foundries, packaging and testing suppliers, and worldwide expertise companions to organise prototype manufacturing for home universities, analysis institutes and enterprises.
Following fabrication, the centre will support chip high quality evaluation and join tasks with the State’s support programmes and funding funds to speed up commercialisation. It additionally plans to determine a post-silicon laboratory for testing and evaluation.
From 2030, the centre goals to grasp superior semiconductor applied sciences, increase worldwide cooperation, and progressively set up itself as a good semiconductor chip prototyping support hub in Southeast Asia, in the direction of strengthening Vietnam’s place within the regional and international semiconductor worth chains.
At the launch ceremony, the centre signed memoranda of understanding with 19 home and worldwide companions, together with expertise giants comparable to Intel, Infineon, Amkor, Cadence and Synopsys, main foundries TSMC and GlobalFoundries, main Vietnamese universities, and home expertise corporations together with Viettel, FPT and VSAP Lab.
It additionally introduced the institution of a 21-member advisory panel comprising semiconductor consultants from expertise corporations, universities and analysis institutes in Vietnam and overseas./.