Meeting with Vietnamese Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung in Washington DC on June 26 (local time), Thurston pointed out that AI requires many different technologies related to sensors, memory, data collection and processing, and Vietnam can choose one of the stages to develop its own strategy.
At the meeting, Dung said since Vietnam - the United States established their new framework of the comprehensive strategic partnership in September 2023, they have fostered cooperation in various fields, including science-technology and innovation. In their joint leaders’ statement in September 2023, the US agreed to support Vietnam in training human resources, improving semiconductor capacity, and engaging in the global value chain.
Vietnam is now focusing on developing high-quality human resources to meet future needs, while improving long-term research and development capacity, said the minister.
According to Dung, Vietnam aims to generate 50,000 semiconductor engineers and set up four national semiconductor laboratories and 18 standard semiconductor laboratories by 2030, to develop the semiconductor industry. It has recently launched the National Innovation Center (NIC) with modern infrastructure and specific preferential policies in place for partners.
The Minister requested that PhD. Thurston shares his experiences and practices in semiconductor industry development, help promote investment and mobilize resources for semiconductor development in Vietnam, and support connection between Vietnam and his Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd (TSMC).
He also asked Thurston to encourage TSMC to invest in Vietnam, while inviting the senior expert to work as an advisor to Vietnam in the semiconductor industry.
Thurston for his part welcomed Dung’s proposals and accepted his invitation to help formulate plans and roadmaps for developing the semiconductor industry in Vietnam.
The same day, Dung met with Kathryn Neal, senior director in charge of international policy at Microsoft.
Dung assured Neal that the Government of Vietnam highly appreciates and supports Microsoft’s operations in Vietnam and recommends that Microsoft soon send a mission to Vietnam to examine the possibility of developing a research and development center, as well as drawing up cooperation programs for training, incubation, and applied research on artificial intelligence in the country.
