HÀ NỘI — Deputy Prime Minister Nguyễn Chí Dũng hosted Amandeep Singh Gill, United Nations (UN) Under-Secretary-General and the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology, and Lee Chung-hoon, CEO of the Republic of Korea (RoK)’s Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd., in Hà Nội on January 16.

Amandeep Singh Gill, UN Under-Secretary-General, the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology and also a member of the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence (AI), together with a UN delegation, are in Việt Nam to attend the 6th ASEAN Digital Ministers’ Meeting.

Informing his guest about some of Việt Nam’s achievements in sci-tech development, innovation, and digital transformation, Dũng highlighted that the country and the UN have recorded progress in their sci-tech relations, with cooperation in strategic areas matching global trends and bilateral cooperation demand.

Việt Nam hopes for continued support and assistance from the UN to ensure effective implementation, thereby contributing to common development in the region and the world, he remarked.

Calling on the UN to create favourable conditions for Việt Nam to carry out specific cooperation aspects, the Deputy PM proposed the world’s largest multilateral organisation expand cooperation in building digital capacity for Vietnamese experts and scientists in its activities.

On behalf of the Government, Dũng thanked and asked the Under-Secretary-General as well as his colleagues to keep supporting and promoting collaboration activities with Việt Nam in science–technology, innovation, and digital transformation.

He also wished the Việt Nam–UN cooperation to grow further, generating tangible benefits for regional and global scientists, enterprises, and people.

The same day, the Vietnamese Deputy PM received a Seoul Semiconductor delegation led by its CEO Lee Chung-hoon, who said the firm, established in 1992, is the world's third-largest corporation in the research, development, and manufacturing of LED components.

Seoul Semiconductor boasts annual revenues exceeding US$1 billion, a network of nearly 30 offices in about 70 countries, and manufacturing facilities in the RoK, the US, China, and Việt Nam. It currently holds around 16,000 patents and is setting new standards in the optoelectronics industry.

In Việt Nam, the Seoul Semiconductor Vina Co., Ltd. has registered an investment worth US$525 million in the Đồng Văn I Industrial Park, Ninh Bình Province, producing optical semiconductor products. The project is divided into four phases, with three phases already completed and operational since January 2017, having disbursed US$470 million, he noted.

Applauding the firm’s productive performance and contributions in Việt Nam, Dũng said Việt Nam targets growth of at least 10 per cent for 2026 and considers science–technology, innovation, and digital transformation as a key development driver. It has identified 11 groups of strategic technologies, including semiconductor and AI.

He said Việt Nam started work on a hi-tech semiconductor manufacturing plant on January 16 to serve domestic chip research, design, and production – a strategic project showing Việt Nam’s ambition to catch up, keep pace with, and surpass others in the global semiconductor value chain.

The Deputy PM suggested Seoul Semiconductor scale up its investment and business operations in Việt Nam, assist local enterprises to join its production chain, and foster ties in training semiconductor manpower. — VNA/VNS