Vietnam expands capacity to test chip manufacturing

Vietnam is building its position as a major world player in the testing and final phase of chip production, bringing together foreign and domestic companies and preparing the ground for more expensive production processes in the strategically important sector. Testing and placing chip assemblies in housings require smaller investments than production, and the leading position in those segments, worth 95 billion dollars, is currently occupied by China and Taiwan.

Vietnam, on the other hand, recorded the strongest growth.

South Korea’s Han Micron is expanding operations in Vietnam to meet the demands of industrial clients who want to relocate part of their production capacity from China, explained Vice President for the Vietnamese branch Cho Hyung Rae.

The company plans to invest about 1.3 trillion won ($930.49 million) by 2026 in expanding its business of placing memory chips in housings, which are intended for consumer products, a company official said. based in South Korea.

American Amkor Technology announced last year 1.6 billion dollars for the construction of a factory with an area of ​​200,000 square meters, which should become its largest and most advanced facility and “ensure the ‘packaging’ of new generation semiconductors”.

Last week, Intel participated in the first international semiconductor exhibition in Vietnam, near Hanoi, and plans to build the largest chip factory within its global network.

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The take-off of Vietnamese capacities for the final stage of chip production was encouraged by the cabinet of US President Joe Biden, amid trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Mainly thanks to the investments of foreign companies, Vietnam’s share in the world’s capacities for assembling, testing and placing chips in housings should reach eight to nine percent by 2032, compared to only one percent in 2022, according to said the consulting company Boston Consulting in a report published in May.

Vietnamese companies also participate in capacity expansion, so FPT is building a testing factory near Hanoi, according to three internal sources who wished to remain anonymous because the information is not available to the public.

One source at FPT said that the 1,000-square-meter factory should start operating early next year with 10 testing machines, and that number will triple by 2026. by investing up to 30 million dollars. However, they are still looking for strategic partners.

FPT did not respond to Reuters’ request to comment on the information.

Vietnamese investment company Sovico Group is also looking for a foreign partner to co-invest in ATP’s facility in Da Nang, a city on the coast of the South China Sea, according to senior adviser Leo Dang Dung.

Vietnam also plans to produce čips. The first foundry will be built by Vietell, a state-owned manufacturer. oružja, also active in the telecommunications sector, it is learned from two company sources, in order to fulfill the ambitious government goal according to which Vietnam should have at least one plant by 2030.

Vietello did not respond to Reuters’ request to comment on this information either.