Vietnam research center wins $60,000 chip-design contract from Japan
Vietnam research center wins $60,000 chip-design contract from Japan
A Ho Chi Minh City-based chip-making research center, which had been trying to land its first outsourcing contract with a foreign company, had the last laugh after two years on Tuesday, when it closed a US$60,000 deal with a Japanese firm.
The Integrated Circuit Design Research and Education Center (ICDREC), under the Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM), spent the last two years proving its chip-making ability with CM Engineering, and the Japanese firm was finally convinced.
The two signed yesterday an outsourcing contract in which the center will design the power supplies for chips made by CM Engineering.
“CM Engineering had been evaluating our ability, mostly that of the analog IC design division, before agreeing to place the order,” ICDREC deputy director Ngo Quang Vinh told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on the sidelines of the signing ceremony in the center’s office.
The contract, the first-ever deal the ICDREC inked with a foreign partner, is required to be fulfilled in a year, but the center wants to finish it in half that time.
Vinh said the contract with the Japanese firm proves the effectiveness of the center’s training program.
The deal also marks a new leap in cooperation between Vietnam and Japan in the field of chip making, paving the way for more quality products to be made by the center, an ICDREC representative said.
Vinh also revealed that the ICDREC is in talks with other foreign partners for more outsourcing contracts.
The ICDREC was established on August 8th, 2005 under a decision by the director of the VNU-HCM, one of Vietnam’s two largest university blocs. The center is located on the VNU-HCM campus in Thu Duc District.
The center targets to become a leader in training, research and transferring technology in the IC industry.
Also on Tuesday, the ICDREC concluded a training course in designing Analog+1 chip for 15 trainees, which will take the center’s total workforce to 125 engineers.
The course is part of the maiden training plan for the IC industry for the 2013-20 period of Ho Chi Minh City.
The plan seeks to train 2,000 engineers and technicians and establish a chip-making plant in the southern megacity by 2020.
The chip-making plant, which has been approved by the prime minister, is slated for construction at the Saigon Hi-Tech Park, the city’s tech hub, at a cost of VND6.6 trillion ($303.17 million), according to The Saigon Times Online.
