As a project to fill the gap in Qingdao and even Shandong, the Qingdao Xinen project 8-inch wafer factory successfully delivered films, and the low profile was surprising.
According to The Micro Network, Qingdao Xinen Company held an oath-taking meeting on August 2, officially announcing the success of the 8-inch factory, the chip product is a power chip, the yield rate is more than 90%, and the mask factory also completed the product delivery on July 30.
No leaders attended, and the local media in Qingdao only reissued the relevant news in the following days.
This is in stark contrast to the overwhelming media when Xin En landed in Qingdao. The reason behind the strong contrast is unknown.
In any case, Qingdao has finally brushed out the "sense of existence" in the field of integrated circuits, coupled with the aura of Zhang Rujing, the founder of Xin en, which has made this project attract much attention.
Moreover, unlike other industries, integrated circuits carry great significance far beyond one industry, mixed with national competition and strength, and even national feelings and pride.
Qingdao has taken a landmark step, but it should also be noted that Qingdao's integrated circuit industry is still in its infancy compared with some domestic cities, and it is quite weak.
Whether the integrated circuit industry can be made into a towering tree with the core grace tests the determination and endurance of the Qingdao government, the boldness and charm of the city's talent gathering, and the strength and integration ability of capital.
1
Xin En is a project that Qingdao has been waiting for for 18 years.
The last time there was a scandal about a similar project in Qingdao, it went back to 2003. According to 21st Century Business Herald, on January 8, 2003, Taiwan Meilu Technology Co., Ltd. (on behalf of foreign enterprises) signed a joint venture letter of intent with the Qingdao High-tech Industrial Development Zone Management Committee (on behalf of the Chinese side).
Investors include Chia Tai of Thailand, while Haier has a 40% stake in land, plant and part of the capital. With a total investment of US$270 million, the project plans to build an 8-inch fab with a monthly production capacity of 30,000 pieces after completion.
This was definitely a high-tech project in China at that time. So much so that Wang Renyuan, then vice governor of Shandong Province, instructed the relevant person in charge of the Provincial Information Industry Department: "Don't let this project run." ”
Unfortunately, the project still failed. (See also: Qingdao's history of making cores)
Missing this project, Qingdao lost the opportunity to build a new industry. Cities such as Wuxi and Ningbo have been silently laid out, and finally formed a scale and ecology.
2
The same is an 8-inch wafer, and the time interval of 18 years is enough to show that the current technical level of Qingdao Xinen is not leading in China. Even the 12-inch factory, which will start shooting on August 15, has already blossomed everywhere in China.
Since the completion of the first 12-inch wafer production line in 2004, no less than 20 have been built.
However, while sobering up, we must also see that the 12-inch wafer is still the focus of the layout of international large factories. And for Qingdao, this is not only a production line, but also the shaping of industrial ecology, leaving a huge imagination space.
Part of the reason is the biggest highlight of the Xin en project, its CIDM mode.
CiDM is clearly defined as chip design companies, end application companies and chip manufacturers participating in project investment, and integrating multiple resources through the establishment of joint ventures.
Ji Minghua, senior vice president of R&D of Core En (Qingdao) Integrated Circuit and former senior vice president of SMIC, has said that it is not to suddenly create a large company like Intel or Samsung, but to take the road of curve to save the country and gather the scattered industrial chain under a community of interests.
"This model allows circuit design, product applications and markets to be tightly integrated with the factory."
Qingdao has unique conditions for combining with the market - it is a leading city in China's home appliance manufacturing, gathering a large number of enterprises such as Haier and Hisense that have great demand for chips.
In other words, this model can jump out of the circle of the integrated circuit industry itself, join hands with terminal manufacturers, and can quickly seize the market, easier to do large-scale, and promote technological progress.
According to the environmental impact report form of the Qingdao Xinen "Integrated Circuit R&D and Production Phase I Project" construction project released by the Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment, the first phase of the Xinen project is an existing project, with an annual output of 360,000 8-inch chips, 36,000 12,000 12,000 12,000 photomasks; the second phase of the project is a 12-inch production line.
3
Some time ago, the mayor of a city in China said with confidence: "Due to other reasons in the early stage is not convenient for publicity, our chip design, packaging and testing, manufacturing as soon as the end of this year, the slowest in the first half of next year will be the fourth in the country." ”
It is inconvenient to evaluate the goals it says, but judging from the twists and turns in the development of integrated circuits in Qingdao in recent years, funds, talents, and technology are all obstacles, especially talents.
Taking Xin En as an example, the team has more than 1,000 employees, of which more than 300 are senior personnel in the industry, most of whom are recruited by Zhang Rujing.
"If you add up all the fields, the talent gap in our country's chip may be about 600,000." Professor Li Jingbo, executive director of the Faculty of Engineering of South China Normal University and dean of the School of Semiconductor Science and Technology, said.
If there is no good integrated circuit industry ecology, in the case of the shortage of talents, it is difficult to build an integrated circuit industry out of thin air, and it is quite difficult to surpass any city in the north, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.
This is also one of the problems that Qingdao has to face. Although the core is now successful, Foxconn's sealing and testing project has also held an equipment entry ceremony, but the industrial ecology is far from formed, and the long march has taken the first step.
Taking Wuxi as an example, there are 3 of the top 10 integrated circuit design enterprises in China, 2 in Wuxi, 10 largest enterprises in packaging and testing, and 2 in Wuxi, 10 largest enterprises in semiconductor power devices... Among the 55 semiconductor industries in the ranking, Wuxi occupies a total of 11 seats.
Including Qingdao, catching up with Wuxi in the short term, the difficulties are not small.
4
Whether Qingdao's integrated circuit industry can rise, the government's determination is a big factor.
In the process of growing up, the Qingdao government has given great support. This is epitomized in qingdao state-owned asset background funds, in several key moments to save the field.
Today, Xin En is also giving back to Qingdao. For projects like Xin En, in addition to government-controlled capital, due to its large investment and uncertainty, private capital is rarely willing to enter.
Hefei's continuous investment in the panel is one of the most successful cases of government investment. If you want to do the integrated circuit industry, Qingdao may wish to learn from it.
Qingdao's development of integrated circuits has also accumulated many favorable conditions in the early stage, such as the resources accumulated by state-owned assets everywhere "buying, buying and buying".
In the past two years, Qingdao State-owned Assets has invested in a large number of integrated circuit enterprises, especially urban investment, and at least 8 listed companies in the field of integrated circuits have cooperated and participated in the shares, including Shanghai Weier and other industry leaders.
The layout of Chengtou in this field has accumulated a lot of contacts and resources for Qingdao, and it is also expected to bring the project to Qingdao.
In 2018, the People's Government of Jimo District and Qingdao City Investment Group signed cooperation agreements with world-renowned semiconductor companies such as Naiwei Technology, Terris, Silicon Jie, etc., to build a 12-inch advanced analog chip integrated circuit industrial base, OLED panel equipment manufacturing, third-generation semiconductor material gallium nitride and other projects in the Qingdao Microelectronics Industrial Park in Jimo District.
Most of the enterprises that signed the cooperation agreement are partners of urban investment, although the progress of the project is not smooth later, but it also reveals the potential of urban investment to integrate resources.
This also provides new ideas for Qingdao to expand the integrated circuit industry.