Vietnam’s Semiconductor Ambitions Face Talent Shortage Despite Strong Investment Momentum

Hanoi, The Gulf Observer: Vietnam’s rapidly expanding semiconductor industry is facing a growing talent bottleneck, with its current workforce of around 15,000 specialists falling well short of the estimated 50,000 needed by 2030, raising concerns that labour shortages could slow the sector’s momentum.

A strong talent pool remains one of the key factors attracting global semiconductor companies to Vietnam, alongside political stability, favourable investment policies and a large base of technically capable engineers. Industry leaders note that Vietnamese engineers are widely regarded as fast learners with solid foundations in mathematics and logic.

This view was echoed by Lê Quang Đạm, PhD, general director of Marvell Vietnam, who highlighted Vietnam’s advantage in its young engineering workforce. However, experts warn that this edge could erode unless training quality and scale are significantly improved, with early signs of a widening manpower gap already emerging.

According to the national steering committee on semiconductor industry development, Vietnam currently hosts around 170 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in semiconductors and high technology, with total registered capital approaching US$11.6 billion. Major investors include Intel with US$4.1 billion, Amkor with US$1.6 billion and Hana Micron with US$673 million.

Workforce estimates indicate that about 7,000 engineers are engaged in integrated circuit (IC) design, another 7,000–8,000 work in packaging, testing, materials and semiconductor equipment, and roughly 10,000 technicians are employed across packaging, testing and materials manufacturing. Together with more than 100 overseas Vietnamese experts connected through the National Innovation Network, the country’s semiconductor workforce totals approximately 15,000.

Wan Azmi Bin Wan Hussin, chief operating officer of CT Semiconductor, a member of CT Group, said that while Vietnam is positioning itself as an emerging semiconductor hub amid rising domestic and foreign investment, building a large pool of high-quality talent is essential to sustain this ambition.

A recent World Bank report, Forging Vietnam’s Semiconductor Future: Talent and Innovation Leading the Way, underscored the importance of strengthening human capital to enhance Vietnam’s flexibility and self-reliance across the semiconductor value chain. The report noted that investing in technology talent could generate tens of thousands of high-paying jobs, boost other high-tech sectors and enable local firms to move up the value chain, thereby attracting higher-quality FDI.

Looking ahead, the World Bank said Vietnam should aim to be recognised as a global semiconductor talent hub by 2035, supported by a self-sustaining pipeline, vibrant domestic chip design houses and strong credibility to attract new waves of investment.

This vision aligns with the Government’s human resource development programme for the semiconductor industry to 2030, with a long-term outlook to 2050, issued in September 2024. The plan targets training at least 50,000 workers with university-level or higher qualifications and establishing four national semiconductor laboratories alongside 18 institutional labs.

According to Võ Xuân Hoài, PhD, deputy director of the National Innovation Centre (NIC), the shared-use laboratories are planned at Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam National University Hanoi, Da Nang and the NIC, with implementation expected to begin in 2026 after funding consolidation by the Ministry of Finance.

However, experts caution that achieving at least 35,000 skilled workers within the next five years will require closer coordination among government agencies, universities and enterprises. Strong cooperation mechanisms are needed to ensure training programmes align with industry needs and adapt to global technological developments.

Kenneth Tse, Intel Vietnam site general manager, stressed the importance of STEM programmes that provide both foundational and advanced knowledge, complemented by hands-on learning to enable graduates to apply skills quickly in real-world settings.

From an academic perspective, Assoc Prof Dr Phạm Tấn Thi of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology said Vietnam must prioritise postgraduate training, targeting at least 100 outstanding engineers and 25 exceptional master’s and doctoral candidates annually. He also highlighted the need for investment in specialised laboratories for advanced training, research and technology transfer to support major national projects.

One of the sector’s most pressing challenges, Thi noted, is the limited number of full-stack semiconductor engineers capable of handling end-to-end chip design, from front-end processes to commercialisation. At present, most Vietnamese engineers specialise in a single stage, mainly back-end design.

Prof Konrad Young, former R&D director at TSMC, added that Vietnam’s talent strategy must address the full breadth of the semiconductor ecosystem, which spans design, manufacturing, process integration, packaging, testing, marketing, operations, legal services and human resources. He stressed that addressing the talent shortfall would require an applied engineering mindset capable of filling roles across the entire value chain.