VGC v1.0 chip - a breakthrough in "Make in Vietnam" security semiconductor technology is about to be revealed.

Today, the launch announcement ceremony of VGC v1.0 security chip and Security Semiconductor Platform will take place.

According to the Government Cipher Committee, implementing the orientation in Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW of the Politburo on the development of science, technology, innovation and national digital transformation, the Government Cipher Committee has coordinated with the Military Technology and Telecommunications Group (Viettel) to research and successfully manufacture VGC v1.0 security chip. This is the result of the process of cooperation, research, and technology development, marking a step forward in mastering security and semiconductor technology, contributing to improving Vietnam's capacity for autonomy in security technology.

After more than 80 years of construction and development, the Vietnamese Cipher Industry has gradually mastered cryptographic technology, with many cryptographic algorithms serving the task of protecting the secrets of the Party, State and Army. Faced with the need to protect information in the digital environment, integrating cryptographic algorithms directly into data processing hardware has become an important development direction.

VGC v1.0 security chip is the specific result of this research direction, with steps from algorithm, design to testing all performed by Vietnam. The product also demonstrates specific results in implementing Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW of the Politburo and Resolution No. 3488-NQ/QUTW of the Central Military Commission.

After 24 months of research with the participation of more than 40 engineers and experts, Vietnam has mastered the secure semiconductor chip design platform, with the VGC v1.0 chip being the opening product, marking an important step forward in the ability to autonomously use cryptography and semiconductor technology.

Lieutenant General Vu Ngoc Thiem, Head of the Government Cipher Committee, said that an outstanding mark of VGC v1.0 is the direct implementation on the microchip of the MKV block cipher algorithm - an algorithm researched and developed by the Government Cipher Committee and has been published as a National Standard (TCVN 14263:2024). This is a process that requires a connection between cryptographic knowledge and IC expertise.

From a management perspective, the greatest value of VGC v1.0 lies in shaping a standardized and inheritable interdisciplinary coordination process. Thanks to that, the development of each next generation of chips will be placed on a solid foundation, without having to start from scratch.

However, successfully manufacturing a chip does not mean that every device using that chip automatically meets all security levels. Each specific application product - such as the VGC USB secure storage device - when aiming to protect state secrets must continue to be perfected, tested and inspected strictly in accordance with the procedures and standards of the Cipher industry. Trust in the field of cryptography must always be guaranteed by actual testing results.

Besides, in a globally distributed semiconductor supply chain (from EDA tools, wafer fabrication, materials to packaging, testing), the most practical and effective choice today is to focus on mastering core technology layers directly tied to national security: cryptographic algorithms, security architecture, chip design, independent verification and end-product mastery. In international relations, it is necessary to evaluate the capacity at each stage to continue improving hardware protection, safety testing and product commercialization.

VGC v1.0 is a respectable milestone but this is just the beginning. A single chip cannot confirm the entire technological capacity of a country. But the most important meaning is that the security semiconductor platform must constantly be improved, knowledge and experience are increasingly rich, the engineering team is increasingly mature and there are more and better security chip lines, meeting the increasingly high and urgent requirements for protecting state secrets.

As the National Cryptographic Agency, the Government Cipher Committee plays a core role in researching, developing and mastering strategic cryptographic technologies, and determining security requirements to serve the task of protecting state secret information. Strengthening coordination between the Government Cipher Committee and Viettel Group, research institutes, universities and domestic technology enterprises is important in connecting cryptographic capacity with microchip design and manufacturing technology, gradually forming a domestic security semiconductor technology platform.

VGC v1.0 results have reinforced a belief with a solid practical basis that Vietnamese intelligence can completely connect national cryptographic capacity with modern chip design technology to create its own security solutions. Building the capacity to be ready to design, verify, produce and maintain essential security technologies whenever the Fatherland needs it - from a product to a platform, from algorithm mastery to hardware mastery - is the path that the Government Cipher Committee steadfastly pursues for Vietnam's national security and digital sovereignty.