Engineer shortage in Vietnam may dent US plans to turn Southeast Asian nation into chips powerhouse
chips hub to hedge against China-related supply risks.
Semiconductors are expected to be a focal point when US President Joe Biden visits Hanoi from September 10 with the goal of formally elevating ties between the two countries. He will offer Vietnam support to boost its chips production, US administration officials said.
«Friendshoring» segments of the strategic semiconductors industry has been one of Washington's key inducements to persuade Vietnam's communist leaders to agree to formally upgrade relations.
Hanoi was initially reluctant about the move over fears of an adverse reaction from China.
The boost to formal ties could bring billions of dollars of new private investment and some public funds to Vietnam's semiconductor industry. But industry officials, analysts and investors said that the small pool of trained experts will be a crucial hurdle for the rapid development of the chip industry.
«The number of available hardware engineers is way below what is needed to support multi-billion-dollar investments,» about one-tenth of expected demand over the next 10 years, said Vu Tu Thanh, head of the Vietnam office of the US-ASEAN Business Council.
The 100-million-people country has only 5,000 to 6,000 trained hardware engineers for the chip sector, against expected demand of 20,000 in five years and 50,000 in a decade, Thanh said, citing estimates from companies and engineers.
There's also a risk of inadequate supply of trained chips software engineers, said Hung Nguyen, senior program manager on supply chains at RMIT University Vietnam.
Vietnam's ministries in charge of labour, education, information, technology and foreign affairs did not reply to requests for comment.
China's commanding position
The Southeast Asian
