Vietnam tech firm FPT produces country’s first semiconductor chips

FPT Semiconductor, a unit of Vietnam’s leading tech company FPT, launched its first line of semiconductor chips used in medical devices on Wednesday, part of the company’s efforts to enter the competitive global industry.

The company said in a statement it aims to supply 25 million chips globally by 2023 and is eyeing Japan, Taiwan, China and the United States as key markets for the chips that are used in everything from consumer electronics to aerospace and have been in high demand due to supply chain disruptions since the pandemic.

Global semiconductor makers have in recent years been betting on the Southeast Asian country, already a major regional manufacturing hub, as an alternative production destination to China.

Samsung said it will begin making semiconductor parts in Vietnam in July, 2023 after injecting $920 million into its plant in northern province of Thai Nguyen earlier this year. Intel increased its Vietnam chip investment by nearly 50% in 2021.

Vietnam’s total chip production has the potential to grow into a $1.65 billion industry by 2025, according to an August report by U.S. market research company Technavio.