The heat of the power semiconductor track has attracted a large number of companies to go to the science and technology innovation board and the ChiNext board. Recently, another power semiconductor company went to the ChiNext board for IPO. On March 7, HuangshanXin Microelectronics Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Core Microelectronics") was accepted by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange for IPO application on the Growth Enterprise Market.
Chips are capital-intensive and technology-intensive industries with high requirements for talents. However, the prospectus (filing draft) of the core microelectronics shows that the company does not have a master's degree employee, and there are only 16 employees with a bachelor's degree, accounting for 2.02%.
Core Microelectronics is an IDM manufacturer in the field of power semiconductors, forming a multi-dimensional business system with chip design and wafer manufacturing as the core, covering upstream materials and back-end packaging. In terms of future development planning, it intends to develop into a leading enterprise in the layout of the whole industry chain of domestic power semiconductors.
So, can the talent team of Core Microelectronics support its ambitions? The "Daily Economic News" reporter called the core microelectronics on March 24 and was asked by the company's staff to send an interview letter. As of press time, no response has been received.
About 98% of employees are less than a bachelor's degree
As of September 20, 2021, there were 793 registered employees of Core Microelectronics, including 16 with bachelor's degrees, accounting for 2.02%; 123 with college degrees, accounting for 15.51%; and 654 with high school degrees or below, accounting for 82.47%.
Image source: Screenshot of prospectus
Among the core technical personnel of core microelectronics, bachelor's degree accounts for less than half. The company has a total of Rao Zugang, Wang Rixin, Wang Minan, Ye Minqiang, Xiang Jianhui these 5 core technical personnel, of which, Rao Zugang as the company's director, chief engineer, who is a bachelor's degree, master's degree, senior engineer; Wang Rixin is the founder of the core microelectronics, has studied in the Shenyang University of Technology power semiconductor professional college "professional certificate class". Wang Min'an, Ye Minqiang, and Xiang Jianhui have bachelor's, college, and college degrees, respectively.
Among the 5 core technical personnel, only Rao Zugang and Wang Min'an have obtained bachelor's degrees. Although Rao Zugang obtained a master's degree in electronics and communication engineering from Peking University, the prospectus did not mention whether he had obtained a master's degree. Considering that there is no postgraduate degree among the 793 registered employees of Core Microelectronics, Rao Zugang should only have a master's degree, not a master's degree.
In addition, there are 88 R&D personnel in the core microelectronics, but the company only has 16 undergraduate employees. In other words, most of the R & D personnel are below the bachelor's degree.
Among the listed companies in the same industry, Leon Micro (605358. SH) disclosed its R&D personnel qualifications in its 2021 annual report. The company has a total of 423 R & D personnel, 7 doctoral students, 77 master's students, 218 undergraduates, 118 specialists, 3 high schools and below. Therefore, it can be obtained that the proportion of R&D personnel with bachelor's degree or above is 70.39%.
In addition, Core Microelectronics said that the company has established a market demand-oriented research and development system. The R&D process mainly includes project establishment, design and development, sample trial production, small batch verification and mass production conversion, etc., each stage is led by the R&D department, and the marketing department, material manufacturing department, chip manufacturing department, packaging manufacturing department and purchasing department are deeply involved.
That is, each stage of the company's R&D process is led by the R&D department. Interestingly, Wang Xingjuan, deputy director of the R&D Department of Core Microelectronics, only has a junior high school education. He has successively served as the director of the diffusion workshop, the deputy director of the technology center and the chairman of the board of supervisors of Huangshan Electric Appliance, the predecessor of the core microelectronics, and since August 2020, Wang Xingjuan has served as the chairman of the supervisory board of the core microelectronics and the deputy director of the research and development department.
Core Microelectronics is an IDM company, that is, design, manufacturing, packaging have a layout. And its package of the first department director Jin Wenfang is also a junior high school education. Jin Wenfang successively served as the leader of the welding team of Huangshan Electric Appliances, the director of the first department of packaging and manufacturing, and the supervisor of employees. Since August 2020, he has served as the director of the first department and employee supervisor of the core microelectronics packaging manufacturing.
R&D personnel are underpaid
Core microelectronics said that the R & D and production process of power semiconductors involves microelectronics, semiconductor physics, materials science and many other disciplines, which require relevant personnel to comprehensively master multi-field technical processes and integrate them, which is a technology-intensive industry. The IDM model puts forward higher requirements for the technical and process reserves of enterprises in chip design, wafer manufacturing and packaging and testing. Without the technical and technological reserves of any one link, a complete IDM model cannot be established.
Talent is an important factor in establishing a complete IDM system.
In recent years, the shortage of talents in the chip industry has become more and more intense, and major companies have "robbed people" with high salaries. In mid-2021, an industry insider told the "Daily Economic News" reporter that his apprentice received a salary of 400,000 yuan / year at a chip design company in Shanghai.
According to the electronic information held by the chip talent training institution, the salary of a Xi'an company recruiting analog layout design engineers is 20,000 yuan / month - 35,000 yuan / month, 15 salaries; a Guangzhou company recruits IC digital back-end engineers Salary treatment of 18,000 yuan / month - 35,000 yuan / month, 13 salaries; a company in Nanjing recruits chip verification engineers Salary package of 18,000 yuan / month - 30,000 yuan / month.
The average monthly salary of core microelectronics R&D personnel is only more than 10,000. From January to September 2021, the company's research and development expenses totaled 16.8927 million yuan, of which the salary of employees was 8.1053 million yuan. According to this calculation, the average monthly salary of 88 R&D personnel is 10,200 yuan. Compared with the salaries provided by the above companies, the salaries of core microelectronics employees are relatively low.
Compared with peer listed companies, the salary of core microelectronics is also relatively low. According to the 2021 annual report of Leon Micro, the salary of employees in the company's research and development expenses is 82.3004 million yuan, and the total number of R & D personnel is 423. According to this calculation, the average monthly salary of Leon Micro R&D personnel is 16,200 yuan.
Jiejie Microelectric (300623. SZ) 2020 annual report shows that the salary of employees in the annual research and development expenses was 37.2939 million yuan, and the total number of R& D personnel was 208, that is, the average monthly salary was 14,900 yuan.
However, there are also listed companies where the average salary of R&D personnel is significantly lower than that of core microelectronics. In the research and development expenses of Yangjie Technology in 2020, the salary of employees is 49.827 million yuan, and the research and development personnel are 676, that is, the average monthly salary is 0.61 million yuan.
In fact, the number of patents and the number of R&D personnel are significantly lower than those of comparable companies. As of December 30, 2021, the number of patents of Jiejie Microelectronics, Yangjie Technology, Hua Microelectronics and Leon Micro electronics was 99, 285, 74 and 62 respectively, and the number of core microelectronics was only 20. In terms of R & D personnel, the above comparable peers are 208 people, 676 people, 616 people and 273 people, and the core microelectronics is only 88 people.
Gross margins for a number of products are lower than comparable peers
According to the different specialization division of labor and business models, enterprises in the semiconductor industry can be divided into an integrated model (i.e., IDM) and a vertical division of labor model. Core Microelectronics is an IDM company, which integrates the vertical industrial chain of upstream material production, chip design, wafer manufacturing, packaging and testing, terminal sales and service of power semiconductors.
The company's products are mainly thyristors, covering MOSFETs, rectifier diodes and Schottky diodes and upstream materials (polished sheets, epitaxial sheets, copper metallized ceramic sheets). In terms of raw materials, core microelectronics self-produced 6-inch polishing sheet, epitaxial sheet. In terms of chips, it will achieve mass production of 5-inch thyristor chips in 2020.
Judging from the prospectus, the general revenue and net profit of domestic comparable companies are significantly higher than those of core microelectronics, but the use of IDM mode of operation is relatively rare. From January to September 2021, the revenue of Jiejie Microelectronics, Yangjie Technology, Huawei Electronics and Leon Micro was 1.346 billion yuan, 3.241 billion yuan, 1.6 billion yuan and 1.753 billion yuan, and the net profit was 388 million yuan, 607 million yuan, 0.62 billion yuan and 418 million yuan, respectively.
From January to September 2021, the revenue of Core Microelectronics was 275 million yuan and the net profit was 0.79 billion yuan. Revenue and profit are small compared to four comparable peer listed companies.
In addition, although the core microelectronics has a layout in the epitaxial wafer, thyristor, MOSFET, diode and other industries, the gross profit margin of many products is lower than that of comparable peers.
In terms of epitaxial wafers, core microelectronics are mainly compared with Leon microelectronics. From January to September 2021, the gross profit margin of epitaxial wafers was 25.08%, while the gross profit margin of epitaxial wafers in 2018 and 2019 was 51.86% and 49.95%, respectively, and the gross profit margin of semiconductor silicon wafers in 2020 was 40.66%. In this regard, the core microelectronics said that the main company's new production line has just been completed and put into operation, and the depreciation cost of the new plant, new warehouse and other supporting facilities is relatively high.
In terms of the main product thyristor, the core microelectronics are mainly compared with jiejie microelectronics. In 2020, the gross profit margins of Jiejie microelectric thyristor devices and thyristor chips were 56.12% and 71.84%, respectively, and the gross profit margin of core microelectronics was 46.30% and 62.98%, respectively, which were lower than that of Jiejie Microelectronics. Core Microelectronics believes that the difference in product application fields and the impact of the epidemic have led to the gross profit margin of the company's thyristor chip in 2020 being lower than that of Jiejie Microelectronics, but there is no obvious difference.
In terms of MOSFETs, core microelectronics are mainly compared with Jiejie Microelectronics and Leon Micro. In 2020, the gross profit margins of JIJIE Microelectronics MOSFET devices and chips were 19.05% and 9.71%, respectively, while the gross profit margin of Core Microelectronics was -11.04% and -15.74%, respectively. It is worth mentioning that the gross profit margin of MOSFET chips in 2018 and 2019 was lower than that of core microelectronics.
In addition, benefiting from the downstream boom and production capacity improvement and other factors, the gross profit margin of MOSFET of Core Microelectronics from January to September 2021 increased significantly, with MOSFET chips reaching 40.16% and MOSFET devices reaching 1.20%.
It should be noted that according to Founder Securities data, 4-inch silicon wafers, 5-inch silicon wafers, and 6-inch wafers were launched around 1980, around 1985 and around 1990, respectively. At present, the market is mainly occupied by 12-inch silicon wafers and 8-inch silicon wafers. According to SEMI statistics, 12-inch wafers accounted for 67.2% of all semiconductor wafer shipments in 2019. According to IC Insights, the proportion of 12-inch silicon wafer production capacity is expected to increase to 71.2% in 2021.
According to the Shanghai Silicon Industry Prospectus, the domestic 12-inch chip manufacturing capacity will continue to increase, and the 8-inch and 6-inch chip manufacturing capacity will continue to decline. The core microelectronics has two chip manufacturing production lines, which are 4 inches and 5 inches. It can be seen that there is a gap between the production line of the core microelectronic chip and the mainstream silicon wafer demand in the current market.
Reporter | Zhu Chengxiang
Editor| Yang Xia (intern) Cheng Peng, Gai Yuanyuan, Du Hengfeng
Proofreading | He Xiaotao
Cover image source: Visual China (picture and text irrelevant)
| the original article of the daily economic news nbdnews |
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