The local market is growing rapidly, with huge demand for smartphones, TV sets, tablets, set-top boxes, and electronic equipment.— File Photo

HCM CITY (Biz Hub)— Executives from Japanese chip and other industries were keen to know about HCM City's investment environment and the incentives it offers investors in the Sai Gon Hi-tech Park (SHP) during a visit there on Friday.

The SHP in District 9 is housing 58 projects with total investment of US$2 billion.

Companies in the micro-electronics and IT and telecom sectors, which get priority, account for 25 per cent of the investment in the park.

At a meeting with the city's Integrated Circuit Design Research and Education Centre (ICDREC), the visitors discussed development and training of human resources for chip design and manufacture and the proposed programme to build a Design House to be undertaken by ICDREC and HCM City Department of Information and Communications.

The visiting delegation represented the Kyushu Semi-conductor and Electronics Association, Kyushu Department of Economy – Trade – Industry, and the Kyushu Economic Research Centre.

The visit comes close on the heels of the Viet Nam Semiconductor Strategy Summit that brought executives from the world's leading microelectronics companies and representatives of the Vietnamese government, academia, research, and industry to HCM City on September 9 and 10.

At the summit, organised by SEMI, which is the global industry association serving the nano – and micro-electronic manufacturing supply chains, the HCM City Semiconductor Association, and SHP, attendees said the semiconductor industry is developing strongly in the Asia-Pacific region, especially in emerging markets like Viet Nam.

The local market is growing rapidly, with huge demand for smartphones, TV sets, tablets, set-top boxes, and electronic equipment, they said.

This would underpin demand for semiconductors, they said. — VNS