Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has reportedly urged the country’s four main state-owned telcos to lead the charge in implementing the government’s semiconductor growth strategy.
According to VNEconomy, the PM’s order was included in his recently issued Directive No. 7 on renewing administration, improving production and trade efficiency, and promoting development investment in state-owned enterprises.
The PM’s directive wants Viettel, VNPT, MobiFone, and Gtel Mobile to take the lead on semiconductor chip research, development, and production as part of that strategy, the report said.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) has been promoting development of domestic chipsets isincen 2018 with the twin goals of fuelling the country’s digital transformation and achieving technological self-reliance.
Earlier this month, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung said that Vietnam will start implementing its national strategy on semiconductor industry development this year, with the goal of turning Vietnam into a regional hub for the chip sector by 2030, particularly for design, packaging, and testing.
Viettel’s R&D arm, Viettel High Tech, made headlines in November when it announced it had developed its own 5G chipset, which it said gives it “complete control” over its domestic 5G equipment ecosystem. The 5G DFE (digital front end) chip is reportedly capable of performing 1 quadrillion calculations per second.
Vietnam’s chip market is expected to reach US$1.6 billion by 2027, the report said.
