FPT Begins Trial Operations of Chip Plant in Bac Ninh

What happened

FPT has begun trial operations at a chip testing and packaging factory in Bac Ninh. The plant has 6 production lines and can handle up to 300 million chips a year. It sits on 1,600 square meters in the Yen Phong II-C industrial park. The company says the plant will test large volumes of chips for businesses.

Key numbers and facts

• Up to 300 million chips per year during the trial phase
• 6 production lines
• 1,600 square meters of floor space
• The clean room for testing is Class 10,000 (ISO Class 7)
• The factory follows ISO 9001 (quality), ISO 14001 (environment) and ISO 45001 (workplace safety)

How the factory works

Chip testing checks whether a chip works and can handle real use. An automatic test machine, called an ATE Tester, checks the chip's functions. A handler machine places each chip into the test spot, then sorts it as pass or fail. The company also runs tests for heat, temperature changes and humidity to check how long chips last. Static electricity control protects chips from damage. FPT says it has its own engineers write test programs for each chip type, and it is building AI tools to automate that work.

Why it matters

Vietnam wants to play a bigger part in the chip industry, not just assembly. Testing and packaging are key steps that add value. FPT also has experienced staff, including people who once worked at Intel Vietnam. The factory will train students too, which may help Vietnam grow its chip workforce. The company plans its first testing order for a partner in South Korea, and it has already shipped a batch of its own power chips to a partner in Japan.

What to watch

• The first testing order for a South Korean partner
• The start of a pilot program with FPT Polytechnic students from December
• Plans to add reliability testing and calibration services later
• Plans to develop chip packaging technology