Hanoi Times – US-based Applied Micro Circuits Corp. (AMCC) Tuesday opened a US$1 million design center in Ho Chi Minh City as its first overseas chip design facility.

The Vietnam Design Center, located in Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone, will focus o­n microchip design and software solution development.

The center also enhances AMCC resource development capacity to accelerate its penetration into growing markets.

According to Vu Nguyen, chairman of AMCC Vietnam and vice chairman of engineering for AMCC, Vietnam attracted the company with its commitment to build a skilled workforce from which firms can recruit and cultivate world-class engineers.

Also Tuesday, AMCC and Mentor Graphics Corp., a leading US software designer and provider, announced that they wil provide hardware laboratories to two Vietnamese universities.

The US firms will supply students from Vietnam National University of Ho Chi Minh City and HCMC University of Technology with necessary equipment to develop their expertise o­n advanced technologies.

Sillicon Valley-based AMCC is global provider of semiconductor solutions for processing, transporting and storing digital information o­n wired and wireless networks.