Vietnam to have 50,000 semiconductor engineers : ‘We worry about shortages, not surpluses’

Vietnam adds about 10,000 semiconductor engineers each year, but Dr. Vo Xuan Hoai, deputy director of the National Innovation Center, is not worried about oversupply.

The government’s « Developing Human Resources for the Semiconductor Industry to 2030, with Orientation to 2050 » program aims to train at least 50,000 engineers, 15,000 in IC design and 35,000 in manufacturing and packaging.

Hoai speaks to VnExpress about the program’s first year and why Vietnam needs a large pool of high‑quality talent.

Q: The program was unveiled in September 2024. What has been achieved in the one year since?

As reported at the August 2025 meeting of the National Steering Committee chaired by the Prime Minister, Vietnam now has about 7,000 IC design engineers, up by nearly 1,000. Engineers in packaging/testing, materials, and equipment total 7,000–8,000. In all, there are roughly 15,000 engineers, plus about 10,000 technicians. Most of the increase comes from reskilling engineers from adjacent fields.

Many universities have introduced microelectronics programs. With thousands graduating each year, could there be a glut in five years?

In 2024 nearly 30 universities offered a major or a track in microelectronics, enrolling about 10,000 students, with more expected in 2025. For high‑skill roles, we worry about shortages, not surpluses.
Semiconductors are a global industry. Graduates can work in Japan, South Korea, the U.S., Europe, and Taiwan (China), all of which face severe talent gaps.

Partners are already placing ‘orders’ with Vietnam through scholarships, co‑training and job‑linked programs. Taiwan will receive Vietnamese students, cover tuitions and allow post‑graduation work.

Japan regularly sends recruitment missions. At home, Coherent has added a plant in Dong Nai and still lacks engineers; firms in northern Vietnam report similar needs. Reaching 50,000 engineers should not create unemployment; demand may exceed supply.

How big is domestic demand?

It is rising quickly. IC design firms grew from some 40 to nearly 60 in two years. Packaging, testing and production companies doubled from seven to 15, including Coherent, Amkor, Hana Micron, and others from Korea, France, and Taiwan.

Companies are scaling: Marvell expanded from 300 to more than 500 design engineers, and Qorvo added around 100 people in under two years. Globally, semiconductors grow at 10–12% a year and in Vietnam at 15–17% (from a low base).

That growth will help absorb 50,000 engineers. Beyond IC design, skills in packaging/testing, manufacturing, and materials are foundational and transferable to other industries.

Can Vietnam actually train 50,000 engineers?

Vietnam has focused on short, three‑month conversion courses to move strong STEM students from adjacent majors into semiconductor roles. Many can start work immediately, [making it] fast and cost‑effective.

Since March 2025 Vietnam has had official undergraduate and graduate standards for microelectronics. Previously only a few schools had adjacent programs graduating a few hundred students a year. Since the program launched, many schools started new majors with strong intakes. To get into some of them applicants needed an average above 9/10 per subject to gain admission.

By combining short courses and formal degrees, the 50,000 target should be met on schedule or ahead.

Can quality be maintained while training so many people so quickly?

From a recent course run by NIC, Cadence and FPT, 45 of 70 graduates were hired by Marvell, Faraday, Viettel, and others while the rest went abroad for further studies.

These learners were students before the short course, suggesting that training quality is reasonably strong even in conversion programs. The weak spot is infrastructure.

University programs need real labs and hands‑on practice. Vietnam lacks sufficient facilities, creating a skills gap during graduation. The program therefore backs four shared national key labs at the Vietnam National University, Hanoi; the Vietnam National University, HCMC, Da Nang, and the NIC.

The Ministry of Finance has consolidated needs; implementation is planned for 2026. Another bottleneck is getting faculty of international quality. Without outstanding teachers, you can’t have outstanding students.

Vietnam should expand international cooperation, send lecturers for training and offer scholarships for outstanding students to study abroad. Solving these two issues should lift quality sharply.

Vietnam once had too many degree‑holders, too few skilled workers. Could that happen here?

No. Vietnam is training both in parallel. The program focuses on engineers and bachelor’s degrees, while technician training is handled by colleges and vocational schools. But Vietnam aims to move into higher‑value parts of the chain, not stop at assembly and test. In semiconductors, postgraduate talent (master’s/PhD) should eventually make up a large share of the workforce.

To go deeper into the value chain, Vietnam needs a high‑level intellectual workforce; otherwise, it remains in low‑value contracting. The goal is to create, and set the terms of, the game, and capabilities must match that ambition.

What might Vietnam’s semiconductor industry look like in five years?

If the program stays on track, Vietnam could have 50,000+ engineers and 15–20 plants for packaging/testing and materials/equipment by 2030. Securing even one chip fabrication plant would be a breakthrough—costly and difficult, but pivotal for deeper participation.

Momentum in semiconductors and other high‑tech fields is already strengthening ties with the U.K., France, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, as well as Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan.

When Vietnam signals a clear commitment, partners respond with practical ‘win‑win’ cooperation. Shared interests make these partnerships durable and open the door for Vietnam to move deeper into global value chains.

*Editor’s note: Rolled out in September 2024, the program targets at least 50,000 graduates at the bachelor’s level and above, four national semiconductor labs, and 18 institutional labs for training and research.

It lists solutions, including policy mechanisms, infrastructure investment, training organization, R&D, ecosystem building, and expanded international cooperation, aiming for Vietnam to integrate deeply into the global semiconductor value chain by 2050.

By Trong Dat – VnExpress.net – November 12, 2025