Ho Chi Minh City’s People’s Committee has approved a programme until 2020 on the microchip manufacturing industry that calls for an annual growth rate of 30-30 percent per year.

At least five international leading companies in the industry will invest in HCM City and set up 25 local companies in the field.

According to the programme, a full chain for chip making will be made in the city, from training, designing, manufacturing, marketing and selling.

A microchip plant will be built by the Sai Gon Industry Corporation to make microchips for local demand and export for the Asian region. The plant is expected to produce 1.8 billion microchips each year.

A Design House will be set up by Vietnam National University-HCM City. The project will invest in infrastructure as well as servers laboratories, leased lines and a broadband internet. Software to design microchips will also be included.

With the programme, the city expects to gain a turnover of 100-150 million USD by 2017. At the same time, the city would have 30 enterprises in the fields with 2,000 engineers.

If the programme is successful, the trade deficit could be cut and the added value for Vietnamese electronic products would increase by 20 percent, according to the city.-VNA