The unveiling marked a historic milestone for the country’s semiconductor industry and national cryptography, with Vietnamese cryptographic algorithms built directly into the hardware.
The VGC v1.0 chip measures 10x10 mm, contains 300 million transistors and is manufactured using a 28-nanometre CMOS process.
Test results show that the chip performs encryption and decryption about 15 times faster than a software-only solution.
In addition to improving processing performance, the engineering team applied security measures to protect the design before sending it to the foundry, reducing the risk of leaks and reverse engineering.
In the first quarter of 2026, the initial batch of VGC v1.0 chips passed technical testing and was certified for use in socio-economic applications.
Speaking at the unveiling ceremony on November 3, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Phan Van Giang said semiconductor chips have become a strategic resource, and that without mastering chip technology, it is difficult to gain full control over cryptography, safeguard digital sovereignty and defend the country.
He added that mastering a secure semiconductor platform is not merely a scientific and technological task but also a political mission and a practical measure to protect national sovereignty in cyberspace and defend the country early and from afar.
Alongside the VGC v1.0 chip, the ceremony highlighted the significance of the secure semiconductor platform.
Using the open-source RISC-V instruction set architecture, the engineering team designed a processor that can be customised independently, giving full control over the design and verification process from the ground up. This allows future products to build on existing work rather than starting again.
The VGC v1.0 chip has so far been used in secure USB storage devices for Party, State and defence agencies.
The next step is to integrate the chip into the national digital signature authentication system, which has more than two million digital certificates in use.
Beyond defence and security, VGC v1.0 has potential uses in other sectors, including protecting records, contracts and customer data in finance and banking, and securing connected devices such as surveillance cameras, environmental sensors and monitoring stations against unauthorised access.
The chip can also be used to protect information systems that support critical national infrastructure in the electricity, water, oil and gas, and telecommunications sectors.
