Semiconductor industry needs 50,000 high-quality workforce in next 10 years

Vietnam's workforce demand in the semiconductor–microchip field is forecast to be around 20,000 engineers for the next five years, and 50,000 engineers in the next 10 years, according to economists from the Fullbright University.

Regarding Vietnam’s preparations for training high-quality human resources serving the semiconductor industry, Nguyen Thu Thuy, Director of the Higher Education Department under the Ministry of Education and Training, said the number of microchip designing engineers in the country is approximately 5,000.

According to experts from technology universities, the demand for training human resources in this area in the coming years is expected to be around 3,000 engineers per year, with at least 30% of them being postgraduate graduates.

Vietnam is home to over 50 foreign-invested businesses that have invested in the microelectronics and semiconductor industry, with significant demand for high-quality human resources, especially in the field of microchip design.

It is expected that more corporations will invest in Vietnam in designing and producing microchips in the coming time.

Thuy said Vietnam has many policies to encourage higher education institutions to expand and develop Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) training programmes, focusing on sectors related to information technology and communications, as well as those serving the demand of workforce for the 4th industrial renovation, AI, and Bigdata.

During 2019 - 2022, the number of new students in STEM fields increased by an average of 10% per year, surpassing the overall growth rate of 6.5%. The fields with the strongest annual growth rates were computer science and information technology (17.1%) and engineering technology (10.6%).

Leading technology universities in Vietnam are ready in terms of training capacity to meet the demand for human resources in the semiconductor and microchip industry.

Thuy also mentioned challenges facing education and training institutions in attracting students and improving the quality of training to meet the strict requirements of businesses, saying that it is necessary to have relevant support policies from the State.

According to Thuy, the Ministry of Education and Training is presiding over the development of two important projects on training and developing high-quality human resources to serve high technology, which propose support and incentive policies for human resources development in STEM and high technology in general, including electronics, semiconductor, and microchip; and on forming research and training centres focusing on core technologies of Industry 4.0.

The ministry is rushing to develop an action plan to promote training and research related to semiconductor and microchip technology, which is expected to be submitted to the Prime Minister this month, Thuy added.