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Dr. Tzu-Yin Chiu, CEO and Executive Director of SMIC

Qiu Ciyuen has been working in the semiconductor industry for 30 years.

His resume is closely related to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), the largest and most technologically advanced integrated circuit chip manufacturer in mainland China.

In 1974, after graduating from high school, Qiu Ciyun went to the United States to study and entered the earliest engineering university in the United States, the private school Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, to study for his undergraduate degree. After graduation, he transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, and received a doctorate in electronic engineering and computer science from the school in 1983.
In 1984, Qiu Ciyun entered Bell Labs in the United States to engage in semiconductor research and development, and worked there for 12 years. In 2001, Qiu Ciyun followed SMIC founder Zhang Rujing to start a business and served as the company's senior vice president of operations. He was once considered Zhang Rujing's most important assistant. He left SMIC in 2005.

What is dramatic is that six years later, Qiu Ciyun once again took charge of SMIC. Under his leadership, SMIC has made great strides forward in accordance with the strategic thinking of internationalization and independence.

Promote product differentiation

Qiu Ciyun: I have always had a deep affection for SMIC. I started working for this company very early. When I came back again, I found that many old colleagues were still there. After many ups and downs, they have survived all these years of hard work. I am also very grateful to our team. We have a professional and united team that can quickly and accurately execute the company's goals and tasks. As long as we set clear goals and directions, we can see a self-motivated team. We have changed some of SMIC's past practices and have made great progress in overall efficiency. At the beginning, many people did not believe that SMIC could turn around in a short period of time. Most people believed that SMIC would enter a healthy state in three or four years. But we quickly broke even, which also shows that our team has strong execution capabilities. Now everyone is very happy to see that the company is profitable, and morale is relatively high. Everyone is willing to contribute more.

We have taken many measures: First, we have increased the utilization rate of production capacity. Even though the entire industry is in a downturn, SMIC has maintained a high utilization rate of production capacity, which also means that the quality of SMIC's products and services are recognized by customers. Second, we have differentiated our products and increased our efforts in research and development. In the future, we will launch a lot of new technologies. Third, we have increased the production of advanced production processes. In 2012, SMIC achieved profitability for the whole year, and by the third quarter of 2014, it had been profitable for ten consecutive quarters.

Qiu Ciyun: From the development history of the industry, the pioneers have obvious first-mover advantages. First of all, the United States has a very comprehensive advantage; South Korea has an advantage in memory; Taiwan has an advantage in foundry and has a great local advantage around the PC industry. But the latest trend is that the industrial chain of mobile phones and mobile tablets is gradually gathering in China. China has one of the best production bases in the world. In addition, China has gradually formed some global system companies, which also brings great space to China's design industry. As global companies enter the Chinese market, SMIC will be in a long-term opportunity period with favorable time, favorable location and favorable people.

In terms of product differentiation, we can effectively support domestic design manufacturers. This is our market strategy and one of our advantages. After the new team came in, we were very cautious in investment. We want to ensure that the investment can be mass-produced quickly and make a profit quickly, so we mainly look at customer needs, and new investments cannot bring too much pressure. But we will continue to develop and innovate in new technologies.

New layout to accept new challenges

In terms of strategic layout, SMIC's new pattern has emerged.
Qiu Ciyun: China will enter the 4G era, and there will be a huge demand for advanced products.
In terms of logic chip manufacturing, our 40nm has entered mass production in 2011, and 28nm is expected to achieve mass production in early 2015. At the same time, we are also conducting research and development of advanced technologies of 14nm and below.

In terms of the company's overall layout, in addition to the existing plants in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, we have also built the B2 plant in Beijing, which will become the most advanced 12-inch wafer production line in China; and the Shenzhen plant, which was put into operation at the end of 2014, is the first 8-inch wafer production line in South China. At the same time, in June 2014, we also established a joint venture with Changdian Technology. The new company settled in Jiangyin High-tech Zone to provide bump processing and supporting chip testing services for 12-inch wafers. From manufacturing, packaging to testing, we have created the first complete 12-inch advanced integrated circuit manufacturing local industry chain in China. In terms of production capacity, we will continue to expand to meet the growing market demand.

Qiu Ciyun: I am most optimistic about the rapid maturity of China's local scientific and technological talents. I think China's education can enable a large number of young people to have technical capabilities, and a large number of outstanding talents can emerge, which is the competitive advantage of China's semiconductor industry. But there are indeed some differences. In the past, we were more accustomed to accepting foreign technology, but after a period of time, more and more engineers are willing to develop their own new technologies, and they are doing very well, and are more and more willing to accept the challenge of innovation.

We have seen that after more than a decade of hard work, products of Chinese semiconductor materials companies have been the first to enter the supply chain of leading semiconductor production lines in batches. The technologies of many major national projects have reached the international leading level. This is the pride of the entire Chinese semiconductor industry.

SMIC's achievements in recent years are inseparable from the rapid development of China's semiconductor industry. With the continuous maturity and development of local Chinese IC companies, SMIC's role in the industrial chain has become increasingly prominent. This positive interaction has also promoted the common progress of upstream and downstream companies. We are very willing to work closely with local Chinese design companies and suppliers to achieve more win-win results.

Qiu Ciyun: The history of SMIC's entrepreneurship is, to some extent, a microcosm of China's semiconductor industry. Before this, developed countries not only did not allow their own equipment to be exported, but even in the treaties signed with partner countries, these countries were not allowed to sell equipment to China. After investing huge amounts of money and going through a lot of trouble, the technology they finally obtained was often tampered with and fragmented. For developed countries, semiconductor technology is the core of information security, and they will try every means to make you get outdated technology.

Gain reputation through professionalism

A widely circulated story in the industry is that a domestic company once submitted an export application to the exporting country once a month, and finally bought a backward equipment from the neutral country Sweden, which was 5 years behind the most advanced equipment. Despite this, this is already the most advanced equipment in China. Even if the approved equipment technology is upgraded every time in the future, similar scenes will be repeated.
But these bitter memories have become history. When SMIC just started, it was considered by domestic manufacturers that "it would not be used for 10 years", but today with the advent of the intelligent era, the chips we produce have long been everywhere, and the manufacturing quality has won international reputation. In
2005, China became the world's largest semiconductor market. Today, the Chinese market accounts for 1/3 of the world. This huge and open market has also cultivated many outstanding and creative emerging companies. Chinese companies are becoming more and more mature, and they have shown the level of world-class companies in many aspects such as technological innovation and quality service. Facts are enough to prove that China's semiconductors have its place in the world.

Today, SMIC has become the first choice for mainland Chinese customers in global foundry, which is also related to SMIC's development strategy.

Qiu Ciyun: Seizing new business opportunities in new markets is the key to the survival and development of enterprises.
Currently, the fastest growing field is mobile Internet, such as mobile phones and tablet computers. In the future, we are optimistic about somatosensory control MEMS products with human-machine interface functions, energy-saving products, anti-electromagnetic interference, anti-static and other industrial control products with strict requirements for high precision.
SMIC's main customers are from the United States and mainland China, but the growth momentum of mainland Chinese customers is very strong and will continue to grow. In the third quarter of 2014, the revenue from Chinese customers accounted for 42% of the total revenue. Foundry companies must work closely with IC design companies. SMIC mainly focuses on wafer manufacturing, but also provides design services to customers. As of November 2014, SMIC has submitted more than 10,000 domestic and foreign patent applications and can provide customers with a rich IP library. SMIC can also recommend experienced packaging partners to customers. These services have greatly helped us win customer satisfaction. From the perspective of technical routes, we must handle the relationship between advanced process development and mature process operation. SMIC insists on walking on two legs. On the one hand, SMIC has been accelerating its pace of catching up with the international advanced mainstream processes and has made major breakthroughs in independent innovation in the most core and critical technology fields. On the other hand, SMIC is also vigorously exploring mature processes. We have found that domestic design companies are more capable of providing special services for China's application needs, and as a result, a group of excellent design companies have emerged. We can cooperate with them to provide a complete set of solutions for special markets.

SMIC does not have to compete with international foundry giants. What we need to do is to focus on customer needs, develop our own technology, and make our customers' products unique. Most importantly, the company can use sustained profits to support long-term research and development.

Growing by learning

Qiu Ciyun: The development of the semiconductor industry can learn from the situations of other countries and regions. For example, in South Korea, several major semiconductor companies almost went bankrupt during several major world economic fluctuations. In the end, it was the South Korean government that supported the companies, and it was continuous support. The same is true in Taiwan, China. Whether it is TSMC or UMC, the government invested a lot in the early stage, and the government also required other private enterprises to follow up, and it was also very continuous support. Mainland China must also have government support, but this investment must be reasonable and legal and comply with international rules. Mainland China has a very special environment, and the opportunities for China's semiconductor industry are also here. The 1960s to 1980s were the best environment for the development of the semiconductor industry in the United States. There were system companies, consumer electronics companies, and defense industries, which all drove the development of the IDM model. The United States still has system companies and consumer electronics companies (such as Apple). Looking at other places, Japan also had such an industrial environment in the 1980s and 1990s, and the semiconductor industry developed very vigorously, and so did Europe. But now, the semiconductor industries in Europe and Japan have declined and cannot continue. For South Korea and Taiwan, the integration is relatively narrow. Taiwan only has computer companies, but no system companies. South Korea also has no system companies, but only very good consumer electronics companies. For mainland China, there are now strong system companies, such as Huawei; there are also strong computer companies, such as Lenovo; there are also excellent consumer electronics companies, such as TCL and Haier, and these companies are in the rising stage, which will bring many opportunities to the semiconductor design and manufacturing industries. This is a special opportunity for our mainland China at present, which no longer exists in other places. At present, only the United States and mainland China have this special development environment, and we should make good use of it and grasp it. In the future, we will continue to strengthen SMIC's production and operation capabilities, customer service capabilities, technology research and development capabilities and market competitiveness, and develop long-term strategic cooperation customers, so that SMIC will not only maintain its dominant position in the Chinese semiconductor industry, but also enhance its market share and position in the world semiconductor foundry market, and grow into a semiconductor foundry company with world-class technology and market competitiveness. Qu Bo "Ten Years in Zhangjiang" (The author is a financial writer)

Source: SMIC Marketing

Mo Dakang's note: After reading the following, I have the following feelings for your reference:

In terms of product differentiation, we can effectively support domestic design manufacturers, which is our market strategy and one of our advantages. After the new team came in, we were very cautious in investment. We want to ensure that the investment can be mass-produced quickly and make a profit quickly, so we mainly look at customer needs, and new investments cannot bring too much pressure.

In terms of logic chip manufacturing, our 40nm has entered mass production in 2011, and 28nm is expected to achieve mass production in early 2015. At the same time, we are also conducting research and development of advanced technologies of 14nm and below.

lSMIC does not have to compete with international foundry giants. What we need to do is to focus on customer needs, develop our own technology, and make our customers' products unique. Most importantly, the company can use sustained profits to support long-term research and development.

l Mainland China has a very special environment, and the opportunities for China's semiconductor industry are also here. The 1960s to 1980s were the best environment for the development of the US semiconductor industry. There were system companies, consumer electronics companies, and defense industries, which all led to the development of the IDM model. The United States still has system companies and consumer electronics companies (such as Apple). Looking at other places, Japan also had such an industrial environment in the 1980s and 1990s, and the semiconductor industry developed very vigorously, and so did Europe. But now, the semiconductor industries in Europe and Japan have declined and cannot continue. For South Korea and Taiwan, their integration is relatively narrow. Taiwan only has computer companies, no system companies, and South Korea also has no system companies, only very good consumer electronics companies.

As for mainland China, there are now strong system companies, such as Huawei; there are also strong computer companies, such as Lenovo; and there are excellent consumer electronics companies, such as TCL and Haier, etc., and these companies are all in the rising stage, which will bring many opportunities to the semiconductor design industry and manufacturing industry. This is a special opportunity for us in mainland China at present, which no longer exists in other places.

At present, only the United States and mainland China have this special development environment, and we should make good use of and grasp it.

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