Wuhan: By 2025, the output value of the chip industry will exceed 120 billion yuan

Recently, the General Office of the Wuhan Municipal People's Government issued the "Opinions on Promoting the Innovation and Development of the Semiconductor Industry" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions").

The "Opinion" proposes that by 2025, the level of Wuhan's semiconductor industry will be significantly improved, the industrial structure will be more reasonable, and the supporting levels of equipment, materials, and packaging and testing will provide strong support for key areas.

In terms of industry scale, by 2025, the output value of the chip industry will exceed 120 billion yuan, the output value of the semiconductor display industry will exceed 100 billion yuan, and the third-generation semiconductor industry will begin to take shape.

From the perspective of technological level, by 2025, the average annual growth rate of invention patents will exceed 15%, 3-5 national innovation platforms will be created, 2-4 industry standards will be formulated first, a number of key core technologies will be broken through, and a number of key technology transformation and application will be realized.

From the perspective of market entities, by 2025, 5 chip companies with sales revenue exceeding 10 billion yuan, 5 semiconductor display companies with sales revenue exceeding 10 billion yuan, and 5 semiconductor equipment and materials companies with sales revenue exceeding 1 billion yuan will be cultivated and formed. The total number of semiconductor companies will exceed 500, and 3-5 new listed companies will be added.

The "Opinions" clearly define four key tasks, including filling in the gaps in weak links, strengthening the chain based on existing foundations, extending the chain by focusing on hot areas, and building the chain around cutting-edge fields.

Targeting weak links and filling gaps

1. Enhance the supporting capabilities of integrated circuit equipment, materials, and packaging and testing. In the equipment link, focus on three-dimensional integrated special processes, develop etching, deposition and packaging equipment, and introduce domestic equipment production projects such as chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) machines and ion implanters; in the material link, focus on advanced memory processes, develop polishing pads, photoresists, electronic chemicals and bonding materials, and deploy chemical vapor deposition materials, sputtering targets, masks, large silicon wafers and other material projects; in the packaging and testing link, introduce and cultivate leading domestic and foreign packaging and testing companies, break through advanced memory packaging processes, and promote the industrialization of advanced packaging technologies such as multi-chip modules, chip-level packaging, and system-level packaging.

2. Accelerate the domestic substitution of semiconductor display equipment and materials. In the equipment link, focus on the small and medium-sized panel technology of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), develop optical detection and module automation equipment, and introduce domestic equipment production projects such as display panel printing, etching machines, and thin film preparation; in the material link, support the construction of liquid crystal glass substrate production projects, accelerate the research and development and industrialization of OLED luminous materials and flexible substrate materials, and introduce domestic material production projects such as filters, polarizers, and targets.

3. Layout of third-generation semiconductor substrate and epitaxial preparation. In the equipment link, support the research and development and industrialization of process equipment such as physical vapor transport (PVT) equipment, metal organic compound vapor deposition (MOCVD), molecular beam epitaxy (MBE); in the material link, introduce silicon carbide (SiC) substrate, SiC epitaxy, gallium nitride (GaN) substrate production lines, and layout of GaN epitaxial wafer production lines.

Strengthen the chain based on the existing foundation

1. Create a highland for storage and optoelectronic chip industries. In the field of storage chips, focus on introducing supporting enterprises in the industry chain such as controller chip and module development, and develop advanced storage chips such as ultra-high-layer three-dimensional flash memory chips, code-type flash memory below 40 nanometers, dynamic random access memory, three-dimensional phase change memory, and storage-computing integrated chips; in the field of optoelectronic chips, support the research and development and industrialization of optical transceiver chips above 25G and coherent optical communication chips above 50G, and deploy high-end optoelectronic chip manufacturing projects such as silicon-based optical communication chips, high-end optical sensor chips, and high-power laser chips.

2. Build an important domestic semiconductor display industry base. In the field of display panels, introduce large-size OLED, quantum dot display, submillimeter light-emitting diode (MiniLED) display and other panel production projects, and deploy micron-level light-emitting diode (MicroLED) display, laser display, 8K ultra-high definition, 3D display and other future display technology research and development and industrialization; in the field of display modules, support the research and development and industrialization of full-screen and flexible screen modules, accelerate the development of high-end panel under-screen sensor components and modules, introduce optical lenses, backlight modules and other production projects, and gradually improve the industrial supporting capabilities for mid-to-high-end panels.

Focus on hot areas and extend the chain

1. Communication RF chips. Support the development of 5G silicon-on-insulator (SOI) architecture RF chips and RF electronic design automation (EDA) software; focus on the development of key chips such as baseband chips, communication chips, and filters for the infrastructure markets such as 5G base stations, core networks, and access networks.

2. General logic chips. Accelerate the development and application of graphics processing units (GPUs) and display control chips, enhance the intellectual property (IP) verification and design support capabilities of logic chips such as central processing units (CPUs) and artificial intelligence chips, and deploy processor projects in the field of information technology innovation.

3. Beidou navigation chips. Support the development of a new generation of navigation chips for the Beidou-3 system, 28-nanometer high-precision consumer Beidou navigation and positioning chips, and a new generation of multi-mode, multi-frequency, high-precision baseband system-level chips; develop integrated Beidou chips for transportation, logistics, agriculture, urban management and other fields to expand Beidou applications.

4. Automotive-grade chips. Promote the R&D and industrialization of automotive-grade chips such as digital cockpit chips, driver assistance chips, power devices, and automotive sensors; for new energy vehicles, deploy automotive-grade chip industrialization projects for power systems, active and passive safety systems, entertainment information systems, in-vehicle networks, and lighting systems.

Building chains around cutting-edge fields

1. Third-generation semiconductor devices. Focusing on the three application directions of power electronic devices, radio frequency devices, and optoelectronic devices, we will introduce device projects such as silicon carbide (SiC) power transistors, gallium nitride (GaN) charging modules, GaN power amplifiers, high-efficiency LEDs, and MiniLEDs; support the research and development and industrialization of medium and high voltage SiC power modules, GaN 5G radio frequency switches, and ultraviolet LEDs, and break through the key technologies of SiC insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), millimeter-wave radio frequency devices, and MicroLEDs.

2. Quantum chips. Support the research and development and industrialization of single-photon sources, lasers, detectors and other optical quantum chips; plan production projects such as quantum sensors and quantum precision measurement devices; and carry out research on common cutting-edge technologies in quantum communication, quantum imaging, quantum navigation, quantum radar, and quantum computing chips.

The opinions made provisions from the perspective of industrial layout, including building a relatively complete integrated circuit industry chain cluster, constructing a differentiated semiconductor display industry core area, and creating a semiconductor characteristic industrial area.

Create a relatively complete integrated circuit industry chain cluster

Focus on developing three-dimensional integrated technology and advanced logic technology, and accelerate the construction of key manufacturing projects such as advanced memory; focus on developing mid-to-high-end chip design, IP core design, EDA software and other industries, and accelerate the construction of reduced instruction set (RISC-V) industry-university-research base; cultivate equipment, materials, components, packaging and testing industries, and accelerate the construction of supporting projects such as silicon-based SOI semiconductor materials, photolithography materials and electronic solvents, and core building industrial parks.

Constructing a core area for differentiated semiconductor display industry

Focus on developing industries such as small and medium-sized display panels and large-size display panels, accelerate the extension of the semiconductor display industry chain to upstream and downstream, cultivate core equipment, key materials, modules, components, display terminals and other industries, and promote the construction of projects such as Huaxing T4, Huaxing T5, Tianma G6 Phase II, BOE's 10.5-generation line expansion, and Skyworth MiniLED Display Industrial Park.

Create a semiconductor specialty industrial zone