Nguyen Phuong Linh is among a crop of young electronics students crucial to Vietnam's ambitions to become a chips hub.

She's driven, smart and already has her sights set on a professorship — wanting to train a new generation that could help woo foreign investors eager to diversify semiconductor production away from China and Taiwan.

Long viewed as a low-cost destination to make clothes, shoes and furniture, Vietnam is now eyeing a rapid climb up the global supply chain and has put computer chips at the heart of its development plans.