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BUSINESS REPORT

Talent the top priority

Representatives from VIVACE Consulting & Accelerator tell VET about the
potential for the development of Vietnam’s semiconductor industry.

% Vietnam is becoming more developed Korea have talent studying abroad in coun-
in the semiconductor market. What are tries such as the US or other Western coun-
your thoughts on this development? tries or developing countries. Therefore, I
Mr. Kim Seok Pil: I see that Vietnamese think that Vietnam should attract Vietnamese
companies are gradually developing in the talent to work and contribute to the country,
semiconductor field and there are many and convince them that now is the time to
reasons why the country will develop fur- come back and contribute to the country.
ther. The process for the country to develop Samsung always tries to make them feel as
further is not easy, however, and may comfortable as possible and even encourages
cause some concern, but what many com- them to work for it in South Korea. We try
panies in Vietnam and the government to embrace them in our business, to make
are doing in the industry has been very our vision come true. In other words, retain-
Mr. Kim Seok Pil
smart so far. ing core talent is the number one issue. CEO of VIVACE Consulting & Accelerator and ex
Within the semiconductor industry are Establishing a flexible single-connec- Chief Marketing Officer at Samsung Electronics and
three areas Vietnamese businesses could tion, multiple-measurement (SCCM) net- Project Manager in Samsung’s Global Strategy Group
follow: integrated device manufacturing work / platform in the semiconductor
(IDM), fabless semiconductors, and pure- business as well as building a strong part- ligent approach to start with a fabless
play foundries. These fields are not easy, nership with global players are key factors business. This is because even if the Viet-
and also require huge investment and infra- for Vietnam’s companies in the semicon- namese Government tries to support pri-
structure. In particular, chip design compa- ductor industry, depending on what areas vate industry involvement in semiconduc-
nies in Vietnam need to have a very strong they are moving toward. Fabless companies tors, there is still a lot of infrastructure
relationship with global players, like car and foundry companies are different. and capital needed, which will take a long
manufacturers and telecom manufacturers, Foundry companies actually require a lot time to be established in Vietnam. So,
because they will eventually be key customers of different things; more so than a fabless starting in fabless is a smart way to begin,
for Vietnam’s semiconductor companies. company. So, whatever Vietnamese com- and then gradually expand expertise and
panies are doing, I believe human resources build capabilities by cooperating with
% Major Vietnamese corporations such and good talent are the top priority. global players.
as VNPT, Viettel, and FPT are involved The government may think more about
in chip research and production. What % What should the Vietnamese Gov- what to facilitate the progress and devel-
do you think about this, and what more ernment do to attract major companies opment of the fabless business, the chip
should Vietnamese companies do to in the semiconductor industry? design business, and the software capabil-
develop the semiconductor industry? Mr. Sang Cheol Jeong: If we look at ities of Vietnam’s semiconductor industry.
Mr. Kim Seok Pil: Looking back on the semiconductor industry, overall, there And from that standpoint, FPT has very
Samsung’s history in South Korea, there are Samsung and Intel, which are inte- well-developed software skills because it
were several important tasks in developing grated device manufacturers. This covers is an IT service company. And Viettel - the
the semiconductor industry. But the most every product line from the foundry and country’s leading telecom company - also
important thing for this industry is human system LSI. But, you know, there are small has good telecommunications and IoT
resources. Based on our experience, in niche players in some sectors. For example, capabilities. So, those two major private
order to develop in the semiconductor fabless is only for designing the chips and and government companies already have
industry, Vietnamese companies need tal- others are like a foundry company. For good backgrounds to begin in the chip
ented people because this is the top priority. example, the Taiwan Semiconductor Man- design software-related and fabless busi-
In the case of Samsung, it always hires ufacturing Company (TSMC). So there nesses. So start with them, try to encourage
quality talent. Both Vietnam and South are very specialized players in these fabless them to develop more top talent and more
and foundry areas. But Samsung aims to capabilities, and cooperate with other global
become a global house providing wide players from Taiwan (China) and the US
range of product, chip and CPU. However, as well as some South Korean players.
the problem for Vietnamese players in Mr. Kim Seok Pil: In terms of the gov-
growing in the semiconductor industry is ernment’s role, Vietnam should try to get
that it takes a lot of capital to set up. So, I some support from the political area as
don’t think it’s feasible short-term for this is very important. For example, the
Vietnamese players to get into huge semi- country should establish a good relation-
conductor manufacturing. ship with and then gain support from US
For example, FPT Semiconductor has companies and then introduce a law to
decided to specialize in chip design, which facilitate funding, as huge investment is
is a fabless area and requires less capital. required in these areas. We can see that
If you have well-educated talent and human to facilitate the development of a semi-
Mr. Sang Cheol Jeong
President of VIVACE Consulting & Accelerator resources, specializing in chip design and conductor industry, the funding and the
software development, I think it’s an intel- volume of the funding is important. %

34 | VIETNAM ECONOMIC TIMES | DECEMBER 2023 en.vneconomy.vn