China Silicon Intellectual Property Industry Alliance was established to jointly build an IP sharing pool

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China Silicon Intellectual Property Industry Alliance was established to jointly build an IP sharing pool [Copy link]

On August 23 , under the guidance of the Electronic Product Management Department of the Ministry of Information Industry, the High-tech and Industrialization Department of the Ministry of Science and Technology and other relevant units, the "China Silicon Intellectual Property Industry Alliance" (hereinafter referred to as the China IP Alliance) initiated by the Ministry of Information Industry Software and Integrated Circuit Promotion Center (CSIP), SMIC , Vimicro , Shenzhou Loongson , Suzhou Guoxin, Datang Microelectronics, Zhixin Technology, Hisense and other units was officially established in Beijing. The first batch of enterprises and institutions to join the alliance includes 51 domestic IC design companies, scientific research institutions, domestic and foreign silicon intellectual property (IP core ) providers, world-renowned EDA tool providers and IC manufacturing companies ( see the attached table for the list of companies ) .

The founding conference of the alliance was chaired by Deputy Director Ding Wenwu of the Electronic Product Management Department of the Ministry of Information Industry, and attended by Director Zhang Qi of the Electronic Product Management Department of the Ministry of Information Industry, Deputy Director Liao Xiaohan of the High-tech and Industrialization Department of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Mr. Xu Juyan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Professor Wei Shaojun, a special expert in ultra-large-scale integrated circuit design of the National 863 Program, and Professor Ye Tianchun of the Institute of Microelectronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Background of the Alliance

From the 1990s to today, IC design capabilities are undergoing a qualitative leap, that is, the transition from ASIC design methods to SoC design methods. Silicon intellectual property ( hereinafter referred to as IP core ) is an indispensable component of SoC . Its quality, quantity, difficulty of system integration, protection and cost are increasingly becoming important factors affecting the development of SoC in China.

At present, in China, on the one hand, the development and innovation capabilities of IP cores need to be improved; on the other hand, the lack of IP core industry standards and communication channels restricts the further development of the IP industry. The purpose of establishing the China Silicon Intellectual Property Industry Alliance is, on the one hand, to promote technical exchanges and cooperation between IP core design companies and SoC design companies, and to improve the technical level and innovation capabilities of corporate IP/SoC design; on the other hand, by establishing and promoting China's IP core standards, forming certain IP core transaction specifications and IP core protection specifications, and promoting China's IP core transactions.

Alliance work

According to reports, the China Silicon Intellectual Property Industry Alliance will fully integrate industry resources, use IP core development as a technical means, and use technical service platforms such as design verification centers as a support system to standardize the development of domestic independent intellectual property IP cores; through the complementary technical advantages between companies within the alliance, enhance the overall technical competitiveness, improve the innovation capabilities of enterprises, establish China's " IP core sharing pool", and ultimately form a complete and secure IP trading, promotion, and reuse system in China. Zhang Qi, Director of the Electronic Information Product Management Department of the Ministry of Information Industry, and Liao Xiaohan, Deputy Director of the High-tech Department of the Ministry of Science and Technology, both expressed their high attention to the establishment of the IP Alliance and warm congratulations. Zhang Qi said: I hope that the Silicon Intellectual Property Industry Alliance can make practical contributions to the development of China's IC design industry and provide driving force.

Hua Kelu, general manager of Suzhou Guoxin, expressed his importance to the IP Alliance on behalf of domestic CPU core providers : "The establishment of this alliance is a milestone for China's integrated circuit design industry. Domestic IP/IC design companies are in the growth stage and need to unite to establish a unified and open platform to drive industrial development."

According to the relevant person in charge of the Software and Integrated Circuit Promotion Center (CSIP) of the Ministry of Information Industry, in order to promote the development of IP reuse and IP transactions and better provide services to the alliance, CSIP cooperates with Shanghai Silicon Intellectual Property Exchange Center, Hong Kong Science and Technology Park and South Korea's SIPAC to jointly provide an " IP promotion ( sharing and trading ) " platform for the development results of the "Support IP Core Development Program" .

In terms of silicon intellectual property protection, CSIP has cooperated with Paul Hastings LLP, Beijing Lifang Law Firm, Thomson Reuters, Circon and Tsinghua University and other research and development institutions in patent services, legal consulting and IP protection technology research and development, and is committed to establishing a relatively complete silicon intellectual property protection system.

In the future joint development and cooperation of the China Silicon Intellectual Property Industry Alliance, integrated circuit IP standards will be an important guiding specification for IP design and transactions. In order to promote the development of China's integrated circuit IP standards, the China Semiconductor Industry Association also formally signed a contract with the internationally renowned IP core standards organization VSIA at this conference to establish the China Special Interest Group (CSIG) , laying the theoretical premise for the formulation of standards that are compatible with the domestic integrated circuit design level, compatible with international standards and can be recognized internationally, and creating favorable conditions for the promotion of domestic integrated circuit IP core standards.

Support IP core development plan

An important topic of the founding conference of the "China Silicon Intellectual Property Industry Alliance" and also the first initiative of the alliance is the release of the "Support IP Core Development Plan" led by CSIP .

Dr. Qiu Shanqin, the head of CSIP , mentioned in an interview that the goal of the plan is to solve the problems of China's IP being few in variety, expensive, and difficult to select. Through this plan, the IP circulation link will be unblocked and the IP trading market will be activated. At the same time, at the technical level, a SoC technology platform will be built to provide IP/SoC design verification services to many domestic IC design companies ; an " IP sharing pool" will be established to integrate various technologies and conduct quality assessment, thus completely solving the problem of difficult IP selection.

Nanshan Bridge, Suzhou Guoxin, Shenzhou Loongson and Dengdian Microelectronics and other domestic IP/SoC design companies are the first batch of companies to actively participate in the "Support IP Core Development Plan". "Domestic companies engaged in SoC design and development have a considerable demand for IP . In addition, high difficulty and high cost of system integration are relatively common problems. We are very much looking forward to the IP Alliance's IP core development plan to help domestic SoC design companies improve the SoC design environment." said Mr. Xie Dan, Vice President of Technology of Nanshan Bridge.

In order to jointly promote the development of China's integrated circuit design industry and cooperate with the "Support IP Core Development Plan", CSIP established the " IP/SoC Design Verification Center" at this conference. The verification center will provide assistance to enterprises in IP selection, IP verification, IP design and equipment support.

For China's integrated circuit industry, the establishment of the China Silicon Intellectual Property Industry Alliance will provide a platform for communication and cooperation, a platform for exchange and information sharing, and a win-win platform for our domestic and foreign IP/IC design companies.

At the same time, it also poses a new challenge to the development of Chinese IC companies. How to form a mature and stable business model for IP cores from development, trading to reuse, so as to encourage and promote more companies to carry out independent innovation and development, and ultimately drive a new round of major development of China's integrated circuit industry will be a major issue facing the members of the alliance and even other domestic IC companies.