The China Semiconductor Materials Innovation and Development Conference was held in Beilun—Ningbo has great potential in the semiconductor industry.

On September 10, the China Semiconductor Materials Innovation and Development Conference, jointly organized by the Integrated Circuit Materials Industry Technology Innovation Alliance in collaboration with the Beilun District Government and the Ningbo Electronics Industry Association, was held in Beilun.

At the meeting, Dr. Zhang Rujing, founder of SMIC and widely known as the "Father of China's Semiconductor Industry," along with industry experts from international chip giants such as TSMC and SiEngine Technology, gathered together to offer their insights and suggestions for the development of Ningbo's integrated circuit (semiconductor) industry.

Materials First: Ningbo Semiconductor Materials Takes the Lead in Breaking Through.

From the “3511” industrial system to the “246” trillion-yuan-level industrial cluster development project, next-generation integrated circuits have consistently been a key focus of our city’s industrial development and strategic planning. In the first half of this year, Ningbo’s integrated circuit manufacturing-related industries achieved a total industrial output value of 12.35 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 14.3%. These enterprises cover the entire upstream and downstream industrial chain, including design, manufacturing, packaging and testing, and materials.

Ningbo is a major hub for the new materials industry, which has laid a solid foundation for Ningbo's integrated circuit industry.

The materials used in chip manufacturing include silicon wafers, photoresists, photomasks, and specialty gases for semiconductors. In the area of silicon wafers, Ningbo Jinruihong has already risen to among the top three companies nationwide. Recently, Ningbo has attracted Anji Microelectronics, whose flagship product is photoresist, and which is expected to begin production shortly.

In the field of semiconductor packaging, the main materials include polishing liquids, wet-process chemicals, sputtering targets, and packaging materials. Among these, Jiangfeng Electronics has successfully broken through in the sputtering target sector, while Kangqiang Electronics has also entered the top ten Chinese semiconductor material companies in the packaging materials sector.

Near the water, the pavilion is first to see the moon.

Automotive chips are rapidly growing.

Dr. Wang Kai, CEO of Hubei Xinqing Technology Semiconductor, delivered a report on the development of automotive electronic chips, offering valuable insights into the future growth of Ningbo’s largest industry.

He pointed out that today’s automobiles are essentially electronic devices. With the central processing unit (CPU) providing unified management through the ECU (engine control unit), the demand for semiconductor chips is enormous. In 2018, global sales of automotive electronic systems reached 152 billion U.S. dollars, and this figure is expected to reach 170 billion U.S. dollars in 2019. Among these, the fastest-growing segment is automotive electronic systems in the autonomous driving sector.

Dr. Wang Kai said that in the era of internal-combustion-engine vehicles, the semiconductor components—power devices, microcontrollers, and sensors—accounted for 21%, 23%, and 13% of total semiconductor usage, respectively. In the era of electric vehicles, these three types of chips now make up 55%, 11%, and 7% of the total, respectively. Among them, power devices—including the IGBT (a small chip)—have seen a dramatic increase in importance; this single tiny chip directly affects the performance of new-energy vehicles.

Ningbo already has quite a few companies targeting this field. BYD Semiconductor set up operations in Ningbo as early as 2008, and Flextronics Motor has also launched an IGBT project.

Wang Kai suggested that Ningbo should focus on the automotive industry and develop more designs and manufacturing capabilities for in-vehicle electronic chips.

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