Having just obtained a bachelor’s degree in physics, Thu Huong, 26, was advised by her lecturers to study semiconductors in Taiwan for the sector’s superior remuneration. "My teachers tell me it is a very new field with great potential and greater opportunities than other fields," she told.

International students visit a semiconductor laboratory at the National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan.

With a master’s degree in semiconductors from Taiwan, one can get a starting salary equivalent to more than VND50 million (US$1,960) per month, and that can go up to VND80 million with a doctorate, and bonuses can be worth a year’s salary, she says.

Many Vietnamese have ended up working for major chip companies in Taiwan, she observes.

Increasingly, Vietnamese students are going to Taiwan, the top global chip producer, to join courses in semiconductors. English-speaking programs in the field are being offered by some reputed schools in Taiwan, even at the undergraduate level.

Most students in this field in Taiwan are awarded scholarships. It is easier to get scholarships in this field than in economics-related fields, she says. "Very rarely does anyone in this major self-fund."

As the AI wave intensifies, it is attracting more students.

In the U.S., according to immigration service provider Boundless, STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) degrees are popular among international students, computer science being the top major as of the 2022-23 school year.

The latest data shows Vietnamese STEM students in the U.S. have increased by 45-50 percent a year.

Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology says there were over 1.5 million international students doing semiconductor courses in 2023, growing by 10.4 percent from the previous year.

Other countries and territories which have seen a jump in the number of international students studying AI and semiconductors are Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong. According to ICEF Monitor, a market intelligence firm specializing in international education, as of June 2023 there were 20,000 Vietnamese students in Taiwan, the highest number of all international students.

Dr. Ho Pham Minh Nhat, a professor of data science, machine learning and statistics in the U.S. who has helped many Vietnamese students achieve their dreams of studying abroad in AI at a world-class university, says many more students have sought his assistance recently.

"In the last five years I have mentored 50 to 60 students from Vietnam alone. These numbers will surely triple or quadruple each year as AI continues to take root."

This explosion in popularity can be attributed to the global eminence of AI and a severe labor shortage in the field.

According to a 2022 report from consultancy firm Deloitte, the American semiconductor industry faces a shortfall of 70,000-90,000 workers in the next few years and South Korea will need 30,000 workers in the next decade.

One Japanese prefecture will have a shortage of 1,000 workers in the semiconductor industry every year for the next 10 years. With the lowest birth rates in the world, Taiwan also faces shortages for semiconductor engineers.

With the global tech race heating up, many countries and territories are sponsoring scholarships to attract talent.

Many universities and companies in the U.S. have been offering grants for Vietnamese students in the last few years.

Google, for instance, has provided 40,000 AI scholarships in Vietnam despite an immigration crackdown in the U.S., the door remains wide open for AI talent.

"Large companies in the U.S. are always looking for AI professionals to develop new products," Nhat says. "Top universities in the world are developing programs that go very deep into AI and are very practical so that once you finish you can immediately work for big tech companies.

"Finally, there are government support policies making it easier for AI students to be issued visas in order to attract AI talent from across the world."

In Asia, Taiwan is another hot destination for overseas students in AI.

Its government has rolled out a slew of preferences and targets tripling the number of international students in higher education by 2030 and employing 70 percent of them in Taiwan upon graduation.

As part of her master’s scholarship, Huong receives a stipend of about VND10 million a month on top of tuition waivers.

Another thing that excites her is the direct exposure to the chip industry in Taiwan. "The machinery and equipment here are much more sophisticated than what we have in Vietnam," she says.

"When I studied in Vietnam, students were not allowed to touch the machines; only the teachers could. When I came to Taiwan, everyone had to learn how to operate the machines themselves, and so I got to actually touch and use the equipment."

Nhat says many countries are seeking to take in international tech talent and points to the U.S.’s strategy as an example.

The first part of the strategy is to make visa policies easier for AI students to come to the U.S. to study. Next is a multitude of scholarships coming from not only universities but also tech companies such as Google and Amazon, which then offer internships and part-time opportunities.

Such opportunities can be even more attractive than full-time positions elsewhere.

For working part-time, students might earn as much as full-time entry-level workers at mid-level companies.

In Vietnam alone, AI’s rise to preeminence has created over 5,000 AI engineer vacancies.

According to Google’s "An AI Opportunity Agenda for Vietnam" report, the country faces a major shortage of AI experts.

In the chip industry, where the demand is for some 10,000 engineers a year, the current supply only meets 20 percent of that demand.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, by 2030 Vietnam will need 15,000 design engineers and 35,000 operations engineers in chip manufacturing facilities.

The Vietnamese government is investing in training 50,000 chip engineers by 2030, which requires 20-30 percent annual growth in the number of students pursuing chip design and related majors.

In 2025 many Vietnamese universities introduced programs in AI and semiconductors. Under the government’s semiconductor workforce development program, the Vietnam National University of Hanoi will train 20,000 workers in the semiconductor industry by 2030.