The NNA Asia (Kyodo News Group): Vietnam Wafer Trains Its Sights on Japan Market - The Challenge of Vietnam Wafer (Part 2)

Vietnam Wafer Trains Its Sights

on Japan Market

The Challenge of Vietnam Wafer (Part 2)

Ho Chi Minh City-based Vietnam Wafer is no longer looking only inward. After laying foundations at home, the startup has turned outward, with Japan set as its top priority. In 2024, it established a Tokyo subsidiary to test itself in the world’s toughest market. At the same time, it is exploring footholds in the United States and South Korea, while working with partners inside Vietnam to create international-standard quality testing. The approach reflects the company’s philosophy: strategic partnerships over quick capital, and long-term positioning over short-term gains. Its goal is to establish itself as a globally trusted supplier of semiconductor materials from Vietnam.

Vietnam Wafer’s ambition is a fully integrated supply line - refining quartz into high-purity quartz (HPQ), producing quartz crucibles, casting silicon ingots, and slicing them into wafers. Stability of cost, quality assurance, and secure supply will be decisive at every step.

The roadmap is staged. In 2024, the company succeeded in producing HPQ on an OEM basis. By 2027, it plans to manufacture quartz crucibles. Between 2028 and 2030, it aims to move into ingot and wafer production inside Vietnam.

For wafers, the first commercial product will be the 6-inch (150 mm) type. Globally, 8-inch and 12-inch dominate, but 6-inch wafers remain in demand for power semiconductors used in energy control. Competition is also less intense. “We’re not aiming to fight in the highest-end segment from the start,” said CEO Chau Hoang Long. “Our initial step is to build credibility in the 6-inch market.”

Subsidiary established in Tokyo

CEO Long in one of his geological expedition trips for quartz deposits.

Japan is the first overseas target. By setting up a subsidiary in Tokyo, Vietnam Wafer has chosen to enter the market with the strictest quality standards. Long acknowledged, “Japan is the hardest place to compete, but once trust is earned, the relationship is rock solid.”

The company reports that its HPQ samples have already reached 6N purity (99.9999%), showing stable results across repeated testing. Beyond semiconductors, customers may include photonics companies in fields such as microscopes and camera lenses. For wafers, Vietnam Wafer is aiming at Japanese power semiconductor makers.

The company is also eyeing Malaysia. Though Malaysia has become a hub for back-end chip assembly, its front-end industry is still emerging. “We want to catch up first,” Long said. Malaysia may not be a direct supply destination, but serves as a benchmark when assessing how Vietnam can raise its industrial base. India, too, is flagged as a future market, driven by government-backed semiconductor investment.

Vietnam Wafer is also moving to build presence in the United States and South Korea, focused on market research and technical cooperation.

At home, it has partnered with CT Semiconductor (CTS), a Vietnamese-owned OSAT (Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test) firm, to establish international-standard testing. CTS is building a packaging plant with cleanroom facilities, due for completion within the year, marking Vietnam’s first fully local OSAT. By collaborating, Vietnam Wafer expects to shorten evaluation timelines and reinforce the domestic ecosystem.

On funding, Vietnam Wafer is careful not to let financing dictate its strategy. “If we chase fast money, we’ll lose direction. We must choose the right kind of capital,” Long emphasized.

Competition is formidable. Crucible giants Sibelco (Belgium) and The Quartz Corp (Norway), as well as HPQ producer Russian Quartz, are established players. Long remains confident: “They’re big, but they don’t have Vietnam’s resources. That’s our edge. We’ll compete by owning the upstream.”

NNA’s Perspective

When we first heard there was a wafer company in Vietnam, skepticism was natural. The greater surprise was that the CEO himself had gone into the field to track and test quartz deposits.

What emerged was a strategy both pragmatic and shrewd - starting from raw materials and moving step by step toward domestic wafer production. Instead of plunging into capital-intensive cutting-edge nodes, Vietnam Wafer is wisely focused on building trust in the 6-inch segment first. Backed by tax breaks, R&D subsidies, and collaboration with local OSAT firms, the outlines of a domestic semiconductor ecosystem are beginning to appear.

For Vietnam Wafer, Japan will be the proving ground. Its ability to win trust in the toughest quality market will determine how far it can rise as a materials maker born in Vietnam.

Link: https://www.nna.jp/news/2831945