Vietnam unveils VGC v1.0, its first homegrown security chip

Vietnam on Tuesday unveiled its first domestically designed security chip, called VGC v1.0, at a ceremony at the Ministry of National Defense headquarters in Hanoi, Tuoi Tre News reports. The Government Cipher Committee and the Viettel Military Industry and Telecoms Group developed it.

The committee's M2 Factory developed the cryptographic algorithms and security standards, while Viettel's Semiconductor Center designed the chip and prepared it for fabrication. More than 40 Vietnamese engineers, scientists and specialists took part.

The chip is fully designed under Vietnamese control and has national cryptographic algorithms built into its hardware, with safeguards against information leaks and reverse engineering. It measures 10 by 10 millimetres, has 300 million transistors and uses a 28-nanometre CMOS process. Tests show it performs encryption and decryption about 15 times faster than software-only solutions.

For now it has been deployed in secure USB storage devices for Party, state and defence agencies. Officials named other possible uses, including supporting the national digital signature system, which has more than two million digital certificates in circulation, protecting banking transactions and customer data, securing connected cameras and sensors, and protecting critical infrastructure such as electricity, water, oil and gas and telecommunications.

The report notes that the chip needs further development, testing and certification before wider use, especially in systems that handle state secrets. Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister General Phan Van Giang said: "Chips are the heart of digital devices, while cryptography is the shield protecting information." Viettel Chairman Lieutenant General Tao Duc Thang said: "Being a latecomer does not mean accepting dependence."

The unveiling comes as the country also marked the start of trial operations at an FPT chip testing plant in Bac Ninh the same day.

Sources

• Vietnam unveils first homegrown security chip (Tuoi Tre News, November 3, 2026)

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