Where will China's semiconductor industry go? Listen to what industry leaders have to say!

2020 is a special year. The semiconductor industry is facing many unique and arduous challenges - Moore's Law is approaching its physical limit, the cost of chip innovation is increasing, the epidemic is invading, the anti-globalization wave and the related risks of economic and trade decoupling are rising, etc. Everyone involved hopes to clear away the fog and explore the real opportunities and challenges of China's semiconductor industry.

To this end, on October 14, the 3rd Global IC Entrepreneurs Conference and the 18th China International Semiconductor Expo (IC China 2020), hosted by the China Semiconductor Industry Association and the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, and co-organized by Beijing CESI Exhibition Co., Ltd., China Electronics News Agency, CESI Think Tank Integrated Circuit Institute, and Shanghai Integrated Circuit Industry Association, opened in Shanghai, aiming to provide an opportunity and platform for global IC entrepreneurs to communicate.

Yang Xudong, Deputy Director of the Electronic Information Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Chen Mingbo, Deputy Secretary-General of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government, and Zhou Zixue, Chairman of the China Semiconductor Industry Association and Chairman of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. Keith D. Jackson, Rotating Chairman of the Semiconductor Industry Association of the United States and President and CEO of ON Semiconductor, sent a special video speech. The opening ceremony was hosted by Zhang Li, Executive Vice Chairman of the China Semiconductor Industry Association and President of the China Electronics Information Industry Development Research Institute.

Opening of the Conference

The integrated circuit industry is a strategic battleground in high-tech competition

Yang Xudong, deputy director of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's Electronic Information Department, said in his speech that the integrated circuit industry is the core of the information technology industry. It is a strategic, basic, and leading industry that supports economic and social development. It is the cornerstone of new infrastructure, the food of the information society, and a strategic battleground for countries around the world in high-tech competition.

Yang Xudong, Deputy Director of the Electronic Information Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

Yang Xudong pointed out that the development of my country's integrated circuit industry has entered the fast lane, with an average annual compound growth rate of more than 20%. In 2019, the scale of my country's integrated circuit industry reached more than 700 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.8%. This is inseparable from the determination of the State Council, the perseverance of local governments, the focus of the integrated circuit industry, and the unity of all links in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain.

Regarding the development of China's integrated circuit industry, Yang Xudong said that China's integrated circuit industry has always adhered to the principles of open development and win-win cooperation, making full use of global resources to continuously deepen international cooperation, continuously promote technological innovation, and strive to integrate into the global ecosystem. At present, China accounts for nearly 50% of the global market share and has become the world's largest and fastest-growing integrated circuit market. Foreign-funded enterprises contribute more than 30% to the sales revenue of integrated circuits in mainland China and have become important participants and promoters of China's integrated circuit industry. He emphasized that China is willing to further strengthen cooperation with all countries and welcomes companies from all over the world to invest and operate in China.
 
Shanghai already has more than 600 semiconductor companies, with a cumulative investment of more than 300 billion yuan.

Chen Mingbo, Deputy Secretary-General of Shanghai Municipal People's Government

Chen Mingbo, Deputy Secretary-General of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government, pointed out in his speech that in recent years, Shanghai's integrated circuit industry has achieved rapid development. The development of Shanghai's IC design, manufacturing, equipment, materials, packaging and testing and other fields ranks among the best in the country.

Chen Mingbo said that Shanghai has gathered more than 600 semiconductor companies, with a total investment of more than 300 billion yuan. Since 2016, Shanghai's industrial growth rate has been around 17%. At the same time, the Shanghai Municipal Government pays great attention to the training and attraction of talents in the IC industry, with a talent concentration of about 40%. Chen Mingbo said that with the opening of the household registration policy, the talent concentration will be further improved.
 
China's integrated circuit development has shown strong resilience

Zhou Zixue , Chairman of China Semiconductor Industry Association and
Chairman of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation

Zhou Zixue, chairman of the China Semiconductor Industry Association and chairman of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, believes that although the epidemic has had a certain negative impact on terminal demand, logistics and other fields, thus affecting the development of the semiconductor industry, the rise of emerging application demands such as online office, video conferencing, and online teaching has also brought new opportunities for the development of the semiconductor industry.

Zhou Zixue said that China's semiconductor industry is a great driving force for global development. According to statistics from the Semiconductor Industry Association, the sales of China's integrated circuit industry in the first half of the year was 353.9 billion yuan, an overall increase of 16.1%. China's integrated circuit imports and exports also maintained a good growth trend, and the development showed strong resilience. Under the unfavorable development of many industries in the country, there was still a relatively large growth.

In the future, China's semiconductor industry will continue to strengthen cooperation and exchanges with the global semiconductor industry, expand opening up to the outside world, and share the achievements of global semiconductor industry development.
 
The semiconductor industry is global, and no country can be independent of the entire industry chain.

Keith D. Jackson, President and CEO of ON Semiconductor , Rotating
Chairman

Keith D. Jackson, rotating chairman of the Semiconductor Industry Association of the United States and president and CEO of ON Semiconductor, said that the semiconductor industry thrives on the global market and global supply chain. The industry needs open trade and continuous innovation, which is not only the cornerstone of the healthy development of the industry, but also a necessary prerequisite for consumers to continue to enjoy the benefits of technology.

Jackson stressed that the semiconductor industry is global and no country can be independent of the entire industrial chain. The Chinese government has kept its promise and unswervingly implemented an open policy to stabilize foreign trade and investment, which has strengthened the confidence of foreign-funded enterprises.

 
In addition to huge funds and talents, the integrated circuit industry also faces two major barriers

Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Dean of the School of Micro-Nano Electronics, Zhejiang University,

Wu Hanming, Chairman of Xinchuangzhi (Beijing) Microelectronics Co., Ltd.

In the opening speech in the morning, Wu Hanming, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, dean of the School of Micro-Nano Electronics at Zhejiang University, and chairman of Xinchuangzhi (Beijing) Microelectronics Co., Ltd., said that the current technology nodes above 20 nanometers account for 82% of the production capacity in the market. my country has huge innovation space and market space at these process nodes, so these process nodes need to be vigorously developed by domestic enterprises. In addition, Wu Hanming believes that the development of the integrated circuit industry also requires huge capital investment, talent reserves, and breakthroughs in strategic barriers (Paris Coordinating Committee and Wassenaar Agreement, etc.) and industrial barriers (intellectual property rights deployed by world leading companies in the early stage, etc.). Countermeasures include having a relatively controllable industrial chain and patent library.

Academician Wu emphasized that in the development of Moore's Law, materials, structure, and photolithography are the three major bottlenecks in its development, and the breakthrough of these bottlenecks depends on the results of basic research. It can be seen from the R&D funding allocation table of various countries that China's total R&D funding investment is not small, but only 5% is invested in basic research, and most of the investment is in experimental development, which is quite different from the investment of other countries.
 

Academician Wu pointed out that when the first silicon single crystal and the first silicon integrated circuit were produced, with an annual output of 1 million pieces, China was not that far behind the world compared with the United States and Japan. However, in the process of mass production, our gap is gradually widening. When the annual output reached 600 million pieces, the gap between us and the world's advanced level became even greater. Therefore, compared with advanced countries, we have a big gap in industrial advancement. Research is a means, and industrialization is the goal. At present, our shortcomings in industrialization are concentrated in equipment, materials, and design. We need to make more progress in these areas.

 
Chip manufacturing technology is the top priority. Academician Wu pointed out that the three major challenges in chip manufacturing technology are: the basic challenge is lithography, the core challenge is new materials and new processes, and the ultimate challenge is to improve the yield rate.
 
By 2030, the scale of the global semiconductor market is expected to reach one trillion US dollars.

Zhang Li , Executive Vice President of China Semiconductor Industry Association and
President of China Electronics Information Industry Development Research Institute

Zhang Li, executive vice president of the China Semiconductor Industry Association and president of the China Electronics Information Industry Development Research Institute, said that with the intensified competition in all aspects of capital, technology, products, and talent, the global integrated circuit industry has entered a major transformation and change period of development. In the future, emerging fields such as 5G, artificial intelligence, and smart cars will become important driving forces for the development of the semiconductor market. It is expected that by 2030, the scale of the global semiconductor market is expected to reach one trillion US dollars, and the market prospects are very broad.

Zhang Li stressed at the conference that China's development cannot be separated from the world, and the world's development also needs China. The integrated circuit industry is a global industry, and no country can form a system on its own. He said that China is continuing to create an open, cooperative, and fair competition industrial development environment, promoting global division of labor, cooperation, and sharing, and achieving industrial prosperity in fair competition. At the same time, China is comprehensively and systematically introducing preferential policies in finance and taxation, investment and financing, research and development, import and export, talents, intellectual property rights, and market applications to optimize the business environment, maintain fair competition in the market, and strengthen intellectual property protection. The investment environment of the integrated circuit industry is constantly improving.