Ye Tianchun: China's IC industry needs to upgrade and can no longer blindly pursue factory construction and expansion

On September 9, the 2019 China Semiconductor Packaging and Testing Technology and Market Annual Conference was held in Wuxi.

At the meeting, Ye Tianchun, leader of the overall group of the National Science and Technology Major Project (02) Special Expert Group, put forward several thoughts on the development of my country's integrated circuit industry. From its own development to the global pattern, China's IC industry needs to reposition itself.

1. After building the industrial chain from scratch, China needs an "upgraded development strategy" and can no longer just pursue factory construction and expansion;

2. The strategy for the next stage is to "focus on products and take industry solutions as a breakthrough point". System application, design, manufacturing and equipment materials must have more powerful measures to achieve integrated development;

3. Shift from "catch-up strategy" to "innovation strategy". Form your own characteristics in the global industrial innovation chain. Lead the global market with the Chinese market and reshape the global industrial chain.

In Ye Tianchun's view, it is necessary to achieve world-class innovation based on the Chinese market and form distinctive innovative technologies and innovative products in several core technology fields. Through industrial chain collaboration, technological innovation and business model innovation go hand in hand.

A representative from the Institute of Microelectronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences pointed out that the new round of technological revolution needs to take new integrated circuits with functional integration, energy efficiency leap and innovative applications as the core support.

However, there are still many problems that need to be solved in the current industrial development model and innovative development.

Among them, in terms of industrial development, my country's industrial model is single and needs to develop diversified models, especially IDM; an industrial ecosystem of coordinated development needs to be formed as soon as possible; the trend of homogenization and fragmentation of industrial layout has not been curbed, which runs counter to the trend of international integration; industrial policies are still missing; and there is a lack of means to stop unfair competition from competitors.

In terms of innovation and development, equipment, materials, and software tools are still the focus and weak points of "bottlenecks"; the coverage of product processes and special processes above 28nm is still insufficient; the development of cutting-edge processes has become more difficult, and the layout of basic research and forward-looking technologies is insufficient; the ultimate solution to the problem is not to rely on "big and complete", but to rely on the "trump card" of mastering local advantages; the R&D pressure and investment of "hand-to-hand" enterprises have increased exponentially, and the demand for government R&D support is stronger; there is a lack of national-level open innovation R&D platforms with system integration capabilities.

In addition, Ye Tianchun believes that after sixty years of development, especially the efforts in the last decade. China's integrated circuit industry has entered a new stage. A relatively complete technical system and industrial strength have been established, not "nothing". Self-deprecation and blind arrogance are both self-defeating; under the current situation, what is most needed is strategic determination; we cannot deal with the "shortcomings" problem in isolation and passively, we must have systematic planning, rely on the improvement of overall capabilities, rely on the establishment of local advantages, and form a competitive balance to solve the problem; independent innovation is not "self-innovation", and open cooperation must be adhered to. The key is how to give full play to the potential of the Chinese market, open up new space, master core technologies, and move from the low end of the value chain to the high end in the global industrial division of labor; in the development of the integrated circuit industry, the "three-chain integration" of the industrial chain, innovation chain, and financial chain is the only way, and China needs more professional investment and financing platforms and more relaxed credit support.