According to a recent article published on the Vietnam Government News website, on September 21, Prime Minister Pham Minh signed Decision No. 1018/QD-TTg, issuing Vietnam’s strategy and vision for the development of the semiconductor industry, with short-term goals until 2030 and long-term projections until 2050.

In this strategic plan, Vietnam outlined five specific tasks and measures, including: (1) Developing specialized chips; (2) Promoting the development of the electronics industry; (3) Developing human resources and attracting talent in the semiconductor field; (4) Attracting investment in the semiconductor sector; and (5) Other relevant tasks and measures.

Goals for 2050: 3 Manufacturing Plants, 20 Packaging and Testing Facilities
Overall, this strategy aims to develop Vietnam’s semiconductor industry through a three-phase roadmap.

Phase 1 (2024-2030):

Vietnam will leverage its geographical advantages and strengths in semiconductor human resources to selectively attract foreign direct investment (FDI), becoming one of the global centers for semiconductor talent. The country aims to build foundational capabilities across the entire semiconductor value chain, including research, design, manufacturing, packaging, and testing.

During this phase, the Vietnamese government plans to selectively attract FDI, with the goal of establishing at least 100 design companies, one small semiconductor chip manufacturing plant, and 10 packaging and testing facilities. The strategy also includes developing specialized semiconductor products for various industries, achieving annual semiconductor industry revenue of over USD 25 billion, with a value-added contribution of 10-15%.

Additionally, the annual revenue of Vietnam’s electronics industry is expected to exceed USD 225 billion, with a value-added contribution of 10-15%. The workforce in the semiconductor sector is projected to surpass 50,000 engineers and university graduates, with appropriate structure and quantity to meet development needs.

Phase 2 (2030-2040):

Vietnam aims to become one of the global centers for the semiconductor and electronics industries, combining self-reliance with foreign direct investment to promote industrial development.

During this period, Vietnam will continue to combine domestic self-reliance with FDI to further develop its semiconductor industry. The goal is to establish at least 200 design companies, 2 semiconductor chip manufacturing plants, and 15 packaging and testing facilities. The country will gradually achieve autonomy in specialized semiconductor product design and production.

At the same time, annual semiconductor industry revenue is expected to reach over USD 50 billion, with a value-added contribution of 15-20%. The annual revenue of the electronics industry is projected to exceed USD 485 billion, with a value-added contribution of 15-20%. The workforce in the semiconductor industry is expected to grow to over 100,000 engineers and graduates, with an appropriate structure to meet development needs.

Phase 3 (2040-2050):

Vietnam plans to become one of the leading countries in the global semiconductor and electronics industries and to master research and development methods in these fields.
During this phase, Vietnam plans to establish at least 300 design companies, three semiconductor chip manufacturing plants, and 20 packaging and testing facilities, with the goal of mastering semiconductor research and development. The country aims to achieve annual semiconductor industry revenue exceeding USD 100 billion, with a value-added contribution of 20-25%.

The electronics industry’s annual revenue is expected to surpass USD 1.045 trillion, with a value-added contribution of 20-25%. Vietnam’s semiconductor workforce will be structured and scaled appropriately to meet development needs, while the country will work to further refine its semiconductor ecosystem, enabling greater autonomy and leadership in certain stages of the production chain.

Conclusion

In recent years, Vietnam has attracted significant investment from global semiconductor giants, achieving considerable success. Companies such as Samsung Electronics, Intel, ASE, Amkor, Texas Instruments, NXP, ON Semiconductor, Qualcomm, Renesas Electronics, Marvell, Infineon, and Synopsys have all invested in Vietnam.
Vietnam has designated semiconductors as one of nine national-level products and listed the sector as a key industry for national development over the next 30-50 years. Despite the government’s confidence in its semiconductor development strategy, it faces challenges such as power shortages, competitive salaries for talent, and a weak technological foundation.

(Photo credit: Samsung)

As the AI wave sweeps the globe, the continuous enhancement of computational power and large-scale storage capacity has become a key challenge for national infrastructure and chip companies.

Recently, Chinese chip teams have achieved significant breakthroughs in silicon photonics chips and new high-capacity storage chips, driving advancements in China’s AI and high-performance computing fields.

Chinese Research Team Achieves Breakthrough in Silicon Photonics Chips

According to reports, the Jiufengshan Laboratory (JFS) in Hubei has made milestone progress in the field of silicon photonic integration. They have successfully integrated a laser light source into a silicon-based chip, marking the first time this technology has been achieved in China. This breakthrough addresses the physical bottleneck in large data transmission between chips.

The achievement was made using JFS’s self-developed heterogeneous integration technology, involving complex processes to integrate an indium phosphide laser within an 8-inch SOI wafer. This technology often referred to as “chip light emission,” replaces electrical signals with more efficient optical signals for transmission. Its core purpose is to overcome the physical limitations of electrical signals in chip-to-chip communication.

Currently, the greatest challenge in developing fully integrated silicon photonics platforms lies in the creation and integration of high-efficiency light sources on silicon substrates.

Compared to traditional discrete external optical sources and flip-chip (FC) micro-assembly light sources, JFS’s on-chip light source technology effectively addresses issues such as low coupling efficiency, long alignment time, and insufficient alignment precision in traditional silicon photonics chips. It also overcomes bottlenecks like high production costs, large size, and difficulty in large-scale integration.

China Unveils Its Largest-Capacity Next-Generation Memory Chip

Recently, Wuhan-based company Numemory announced the successful development of China’s first largest-capacity next-generation 3D memory chip, the “NM101.”

This chip employs innovative 3D stacking technology. Based on the principle of resistance changes in new materials, using advanced processes, it integrates billions of non-volatile memory devices on a single chip, achieving a significant breakthrough in memory architecture.

Compared to other large-capacity non-volatile memory products on the market, the “NM101” chip boasts a significant advantage in storage capacity, with a single chip capable of holding up to 64 Gb. It supports random read/write operations, with both read and write speeds exceeding 10 times that of current products, while its lifespan is extended fivefold. These improvements will significantly enhance system solution performance, providing better and more efficient services for applications such as virtualization and databases.

This chip offers new large-capacity, high-density, high-bandwidth, low-latency storage solutions for Chinese data centers and cloud computing providers.

Intel’s first processor using rival TSMC’s technology, the Lunar Lake, has officially launched, intensifying the competition with AMD. According to a recent report by TechNews, third-party testing has confirmed Intel’s claims: Lunar Lake is indeed the most energy-efficient x86 processor to date, outperforming Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X and even rivaling Apple’s M3, reminiscent of Apple’s groundbreaking M1 launch.

TechNews attributes this success not only to Intel’s redesign of power supply, frequency regulation, and packaging but also to the advanced TSMC N3B process.

Recently, Intel announced that in order to reduce costs and better prepare for its in-house 18A process, it has decided to abandon the introduction of the 20A process. As a result, the Arrow Lake chip launching this month will also use TSMC’s process. TechNews raised the question in their article: “With Intel’s new platforms expected to rely on TSMC’s process at least until 2026, will AMD face significant challenges?”

Can AMD’s Zen 5 architecture turn the tide?

TechNews noted that AMD’s current advantage over Intel rests heavily on using TSMC’s process. However, AMD is not alone in benefiting from TSMC’s power efficiency. Across the board, chips produced with TSMC technology have demonstrated superior energy efficiency, delivering high performance without consuming excessive power. But, with the efficiency gains from advanced nodes like M4 or A18 nearing their limits, chipmakers will need to adopt more aggressive power and frequency strategies to push performance further.

Lunar Lake’s impressive energy efficiency highlights both TSMC’s process advantage and Intel’s enduring design prowess. This should serve as a warning for AMD, which plans a major push into the laptop market in 2025. With the launch of Strix Point and Hawk Point this year, AMD aims to release five new platforms next year, targeting the mid-to-high-end laptop market. However, reviews of Strix Point already show that, while performance has improved, energy efficiency remains stagnant—a problem that could persist with future Zen 5-based products.

This opens a window of opportunity for Arrow Lake, which is now powered by TSMC’s process. If Arrow Lake can offer higher peak performance than Raptor Lake Refresh or Meteor Lake while maintaining strong energy efficiency—and with better OEM partnerships—AMD’s hard-earned foothold in the mid-to-high-end market may once again be overshadowed by Intel.

Facing competition shifts due to process changes is nothing new for AMD. As mentioned in the TechNews report, when NVIDIA launched the RTX 30 series on Samsung’s 8LPU (8nm) process, early issues with leakage and high power consumption gave AMD’s RX 6000 series GPUs, known for their superior performance and energy efficiency, a competitive edge. The high-end 6800 and 6900 models were even able to compete with NVIDIA’s RTX 3080. However, once NVIDIA returned to TSMC for the RTX 40 series, AMD struggled to keep up and eventually abandoned its high-end GPU plans, shifting focus to niche markets.

TechNews concludes that while next year may see the lowest degree of processor process diversity—since almost everyone is using TSMC—it will also be a critical year to evaluate the true design strengths of each semiconductor company. With AMD’s Zen 5 already on the table, all eyes are now on Intel’s Arrow Lake to see what surprises it brings to the market with TSMC’s technology.

(Photo credit: AMD)

Rumors suggest that Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S25 models will adopt a dual-chipset strategy by adopting MediaTek’s Dimensity 9400. This approach is intended to lessen the company’s dependence on Qualcomm and to reduce its chipset costs, according to a report from Wccftech.

While neither Samsung nor MediaTek have confirmed this information, it may have been inadvertently revealed by Google in its blog post, Wccftech notes. In a blog article released by Google DeepMind at the end of September, the progress of AlphaChip, which is the AI division of Google, was discussed, emphasizing how it accelerates and optimizes chip design.

Notably, the article suggests the potential collaboration between Samsung and MediaTek, according to Wccftech.

Although the article does not explicitly mention MediaTek’s Dimensity 9400 or the Galaxy S25 series, it does mention the Dimensity Flagship 5G. This could imply the Dimensity 9400 and the Galaxy S25 series, since the Galaxy S24 series does not currently feature any high-end MediaTek chipsets.

As per a report from TechNews, the Dimensity 9400 has been officially launched today (October 9th), while the Galaxy S25 series is expected to be unveiled early next year, aligning with the details mentioned in the blog article released by Google DeepMind.

It is worth noting that Samsung is initially expected to integrate some of the new Galaxy S25 models with its own Exynos 2500. However, according to Wccftech, due to the unstable yield rates of the 3 nm GAA process, Samsung not only struggled to attract potential consumers but also faced the possibility of delaying the launch schedule for its new flagship chipset.

Nevertheless, as suggested by Wccftech, the Exynos 2500 might not be abandoned. Rumors indicate that it might be used in its ‘price to performance’ Galaxy S25 FE, along with its future foldable smartphones.

Read more

• [News] MediaTek Dimensity 9400 Debuts: All-Big-Core and TSMC 3nm Challenge Qualcomm, Apple
• [News] Samsung’s Memory and Smartphone Divisions Reportedly Eye Collaboration with TSMC and MediaTek
• [News] Despite 3nm Issues, Samsung Plans to Speed up 2nm/1.4nm Expansion Next Year

(Photo credit: Samsung)

Lisa Su of AMD recently celebrated a decade as CEO, a remarkable journey that has transformed the company from a challenging position into one of the most influential players in the AI landscape.

10 years ago I had the honor of a lifetime to be named @AMD CEO. It’s been an incredible journey with so many proud moments. Today I want to thank the global @AMD team for all you do. As amazing as the last 10 years have been, the best is yet to come. 🥰 pic.twitter.com/WuQRt3xlX3

— Lisa Su (@LisaSu) October 8, 2024

When Lisa Su first joined AMD, the company was on the brink of bankruptcy, having laid off nearly a quarter of its workforce, while its stock price had plummeted to just USD 2.

Su’s achievements at AMD are numerous, particularly her revamp of the product portfolio. The reforms she implemented as CEO significantly shaped the company’s future success.

Notably, as reported by CNN, when Su first took the position as CEO of AMD, she decided not to pursue technology for mobile phones or Internet of Things sensors, recognizing that while these areas are promising, they are not AMD’s core competencies.

(Photo Credit: AMD)