IC industry: Demand for three types of talent on the "talent chain" is expected to rise

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IC industry: Demand for three types of talent on the "talent chain" is expected to rise [Copy link]

It is said that the IC industry lacks engineers. In fact, with the development of the domestic IC industry, it is not only engineers that are in short supply. The demand for talents in marketing, project management, production management and other aspects is also becoming increasingly prominent. At present, there are "problems" in all links of the talent chain of the domestic IC industry to a certain extent, and the lack of talents has become a bottleneck for the development of the industry.

It is not just engineers that are in short supply

. "IC engineers are currently in short supply globally, but the domestic IC industry is not only short of engineers. Mature talents in the market are simply in a 'vacuum' state." Xu Yan, human resources manager of Shanghai Huahong Integrated Circuit Co., Ltd., told reporters. At the "Meet Zhangjiang" recruitment fair held last week, more than a dozen well-known IC companies including Huahong Integrated Circuit, Epoch Micro, and Spreadtrum Communications were recruiting. The reporter found that IC engineers are still in high demand, but companies are not just looking for engineers.

Huahong Integrated Circuit is currently in urgent need of recruiting talents in the market, including marketing directors, senior marketing managers, and senior analysts. However, after a period of recruitment, Xu Yan found that there is almost no mature market talent in the domestic IC industry, and the talent is extremely scarce. In desperation, she had to find talents willing to switch to the market from existing technical talents. Another IC company encountered similar problems when recruiting intellectual property personnel. Those who understand IC do not understand the relevant knowledge of intellectual property, and those who have relevant experience in intellectual property protection do not understand IC. It has been difficult to find relevant personnel.

According to the current domestic IC industry structure, IC companies are mainly divided into two types of companies: design and processing. Design companies are responsible for product design, while processing companies include chip production, packaging, and testing. In addition, there are supporting companies such as semiconductor materials, equipment, and devices. After some companies have become bigger and stronger, their functions have gradually extended, and they have begun to independently carry out product development, market development, marketing, etc., and the demand for talents in these areas has also arisen. According to the authoritative organization's estimate of the domestic IC talent gap, by 2010, the country will need 250,000 to 300,000 IC talents, including not only engineers, but also a large number of management talents, marketing talents, production talents, quality management talents, intellectual property talents and other talents. "For the domestic IC industry to develop, it needs a 'talent chain', not just engineers," said Xu Yan.

The demand for three types of people in the "talent chain" is bullish

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At present, the demand for three types of talents other than engineers has already emerged: ·Marketing talents Due to the high professionalism of the IC industry, market personnel must have a certain depth of understanding of the relevant technologies of the IC industry, that is, they must have certain professional knowledge and a strong industry background, so that they can accurately grasp the development trend of the industry and make reasonable market decisions. However, due to the development of the domestic IC industry to date, most companies either only do design or only do packaging and testing, and most orders are controlled by foreign multinational companies. Domestic companies still need to develop the market on their own. Naturally, local market talents who understand IC technology are very scarce. However, with the development of the industry, the demand for market talents will increase day by day. ·Project talents are similar to market talents. The professionalism of the IC industry requires that relevant project talents must also have certain professional knowledge and a strong industry background, be familiar with the product market, be familiar with the IC design process, have strong project management and coordination capabilities, have project management experience, and be able to undertake the affairs of all aspects of project operation. ·Production management talents The demand for production management talents increases with the increase in the number of IC processing companies. In addition to having IC professional knowledge, production managers must also be familiar with the processes and procedures of IC manufacturing, have certain quality management experience, and be able to coordinate and arrange all aspects of production. IC engineers are in short supply. IC engineers are in short supply, which is also reflected in all aspects of IC design, manufacturing, packaging and testing. 1. Design link In design companies, the core talent is design engineers, who are also the most scarce among engineers. According to relevant reports, there are more than 400 IC design companies in China, but there are less than 4,000 experienced designers. In contrast, the US IC design industry has 500,000 experienced designers. At present, the three categories with the largest demand and the largest talent gap are analog design engineers, digital design engineers and layout design engineers. In addition, the design link also requires process interface engineers, application engineers, verification engineers, etc. IC layout designers The main responsibility of IC layout designers is to use EDA design tools to carry out layout design and verification of the back-end of integrated circuits, and finally generate GDSII data for integrated circuit manufacturing. Layout designers usually need to communicate and cooperate with digital design engineers and analog design engineers at any time to complete their work. An excellent layout designer must have the ability to design and understand circuits, as well as solid process knowledge. ·Analog design engineer As a key figure in the design process, the job of an analog design engineer is to complete the circuit design of the chip. Since the design platforms used by various design companies are different, and the requirements for circuit design for different materials and products vary greatly, the most core skill of an analog design engineer is that he must have the circuit design knowledge and experience required by the company, and have rich theoretical knowledge of analog circuits. At the same time, it is also necessary to guide the layout design engineer to realize the layout design of analog circuits. 2. Manufacturing link After design comes manufacturing. In chip manufacturing companies, the protagonist is the process manufacturing engineer, which is the most mainstream and scarce talent in production companies, and is currently also a globally scarce IC professional talent. At the same time, the manufacturing process also requires a large number of equipment maintenance personnel and operational technicians. ·Manufacturing engineer The key task of a manufacturing engineer is to complete the production and manufacturing of IC products in accordance with the design requirements, adopt appropriate manufacturing processes, and design reasonable processes to enable it to realize the various functions of the product. Manufacturing engineers must be quite familiar with the production process and process of IC products, be able to handle various technical problems that arise in the production process at any time, and have certain quality management knowledge. In order to ensure that the products produced meet customer needs, it is necessary to communicate with the designer at any time. After the finished product comes out, it is necessary to communicate with the test engineer for follow-up testing. 3. Packaging and testing link The back-end process of the manufacturing link is chip packaging. In packaging companies, two main types of engineers are needed, including packaging process engineers and equipment engineers. "Gray-collar" talents such as operational technicians are also talents that are in great demand in packaging companies. In addition, after the chip is produced, it needs to be tested, which mainly relies on test engineers. ·Test engineer The test engineer is the gatekeeper before the product is shipped. After the factory production line completes the entire production process, the test engineer is needed to test whether the function of the IC finished product is normal and meets the requirements. Once a defect is found in the product, it will be immediately reported to the engineer of the previous process, and whether there is any need for improvement in the product production process. If there is no problem with the product function, it will be packaged and shipped. Generally speaking, test engineers need to be proficient in device testing principles and have experience in semiconductor industry testing.