In the context of the Sino-US game and a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, automotive chips have become a key element to ensure the safe development of China's automobile industry. The development of China's automotive chip industry has a low technical level, weak core technology competitiveness, lack of high-end products, and a small scale of professional talents. This paper analyzes the challenges and opportunities of the automotive chip industry by using the five-helix innovation theory, and puts forward suggestions for the development of China's automotive chip R&D route: further improve the innovation system, give full play to the advantages of the new national system, strengthen the cultivation and introduction of talents, and establish adaptation standards, so as to improve the design level and manufacturing capacity of China's automotive chips, and realize the independence of China's automotive chips, in order to occupy a place in the global market.
At the same time, as the global automotive industry enters a new round of technological change, electrification, networking, and intelligence have become the trend of the development of the automotive industry. As a strongly bound system, the automotive chip industry has high barriers, and compared with consumer-grade and industrial-grade chips, it has the characteristics of longer development cycle, stricter reliability requirements, and longer service life, so there are inherent disadvantages under the trend of high-performance R&D and large-scale mass production. Due to the long-term monopoly of the automotive chip industry by developed countries, "China's automotive chip industry has a low level of independent innovation, weak industrial supply capacity, and is at the middle and low end of the industrial chain". This paper uses the five-helix innovation theory to analyze the challenges and opportunities of China's automotive chip industry, in order to help China realize the independence of automotive chips and enhance its international competitiveness.
Analysis of the development of China's automotive chip industry
The status quo of China's automotive chip industry
The deep integration of automobiles and chips is not only the trend of digital transformation in the manufacturing industry, but also the entry point for the combination of digital technology and traditional technology to boost social development. At present, the number of chips used in a smart electric vehicle is about 1,500, and most of them use conventional processes above 28nm. However, chips for smart cockpits and autonomous driving must use 14nm or 7nm processes, and the new generation of high-computing chips from NVIDIA Corporation and Tesla Inc have begun to use 5nm processes. In the existing global chip pattern, "developed countries and regions represented by Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea occupy 37%, 30% and 25% of the market share respectively, and have monopolized the automotive regulatory chip industry for a long time." "The development of China's automotive chip industry is showing a dual trend: on the one hand, significant progress has been made in the production and manufacturing of low-end products, but due to the lack of core technology, it lags behind in the development of high-end products; It can be seen that the ecosystem of China's automotive chip industry has been developing rapidly, but the development of the industry is still facing many challenges such as insufficient R&D investment and lack of a perfect intellectual property protection system, resulting in chips becoming the "sword of Damocles" hanging over the heads of Chinese car companies based on procurement models.
With the announcement of the CHIPS and Science Act and other related laws and policies in the United States, the development of China's auto industry is facing new challenges. On the one hand, the U.S. government has imposed sanctions on Nvidia, one of China's automotive chip suppliers, and on the other hand, the U.S. has completely blocked China's 14nm advanced manufacturing process. This means that the U.S. restrictions on China's automotive chips have covered the entire chip industry chain, focusing on restricting chip design, manufacturing, and the accompanying intellectual property transfer and talent exchange. It can be seen that the use of knowledge resources has become the focus of restrictions, which will have a huge impact on China's automotive industry in the short term. In the long run, the United States has the initiative in the competition of automotive chips and can choose whether to export technology products to China, which will make it difficult for some Chinese auto companies to compete with European and American companies, and become an obstacle to the further development of China's auto industry to the "three modernizations". If this situation continues for a long time, it will be difficult for China's smart electric vehicles to compete with foreign car companies, and the existing development situation will be unsustainable.
Specifically, China's imports of automotive chips account for 90%, and all key system chips are monopolized by foreign countries. Autonomous automotive chips are mostly used in simple systems such as body electronics. With the continuous development and penetration of new energy drive and intelligent driving technology, the automotive chip market will have huge growth potential. At the same time, there is no clear definition of "automotive chip", and the basic characteristics of automotive chips include high reliability, high security and high stability. As a bulk commodity, automotive products require that the cost of automotive chips cannot be too high, and the stocking cycle needs to meet the use and maintenance requirements of automobiles, which is generally as long as 20A. A vehicle specification chip needs to pass 2~3A to complete the vehicle specification certification and enter the automotive supply chain, and once entered, it can have a supply cycle of up to 5~10A to form a stable industrial chain pattern. From the perspective of the chip industry, automotive chips are small in the entire chip market, have many requirements, and account for a small proportion of business in chip companies, and in addition to the autonomous driving part, automotive chips are mostly used in non-advanced processes, but they are very particular about process requirements. From this level, the game between China and the United States will bring huge opportunities for the development of China's automotive chips. The United States and China are both important auto producers and consumers, and any disruption could lead to delays, shortages, or increased costs in auto production. Therefore, both countries are striving to achieve technological independence and reduce dependence on foreign suppliers, which has opened up a certain living space for Chinese chip companies.
Five Helix Innovation Theory and Applicability
In recent years, China's automotive chip industry has developed rapidly, but it faces many problems such as high technology dependence, weak innovation ability, and insufficient R&D investment. To this end, scholars have proposed various theories to analyze the innovation system and its impact on industrial competitiveness, and the Five Helix Innovation Theory is one of them. Scholars Elias G. Carayannis and Campbell put forward the five-helix innovation theory on the basis of inheriting the logic of the triple helix innovation framework, that is, "adding the natural environment on the basis of the government, enterprises, universities and research institutes, and the public". The theory points to the importance of knowledge and emphasizes that the sustainability of the knowledge economy requires the co-evolution of knowledge and society, and that the social, economic and natural environment are also regarded as the driving forces of knowledge production and innovation. There are two paths to knowledge creation in each subsystem: one is to bring innovation for sustainable development, and the other is to generate new technology flows and knowledge cycles. "The five-helix innovation theory highlights the systematization of innovation activities, which is essentially the aggregation, interaction and integration of innovation elements and resources through the open boundaries of different innovation subjects, and the characteristics of its innovation mechanism include the self-organization of the innovation system, the reflexivity of the innovation subject, and the synergy of innovation resources. It can be seen that "the innovation ecosystem is a new innovation paradigm driven by social changes such as continuous technological progress, increasingly fierce competition, and development emphasizing sustainability." "The Five Helix Innovation Theory serves as a framework for understanding the relationship between knowledge and innovation, thereby contributing to the sustainable development of society (Figure 1).
Fig.1 The five-helix innovation model and its functions
Therefore, the challenges faced by China's automotive chip industry can be analyzed through the five-helix innovation theory. As an important part of the automotive industry chain, the chip industry is facing both product shortages and technical "bottlenecks", and to creatively solve this problem, Chinese enterprises need to form a joint force for common development. In other words, in the five-helix innovation theory, this problem is caused by the technical gap, patent acquisition barriers, and unsmooth information communication in the exchange process of knowledge resources between various systems, which makes the knowledge sharing unsystematic, and there is duplication of research, and it is difficult to give full play to the advantages of the system. The existing chip barriers show that a single technological breakthrough has a limited role and requires systematic progress. By collecting relevant information about automotive chips, understanding the hardware and software structure of automotive chips, and using the five-helix innovation theory, we can observe how automotive chip companies with long development cycles and rapid iteration characteristics can effectively integrate with car companies, clarify the market demand of automotive chips, and find the blockages, stuck points and breakpoints. Understanding the circulation of chips and automobile-related knowledge in the system through the five-helix innovation theory will help to better understand the functions of automotive chips, clarify the needs of car companies in chip design and development, promote the development planning of high-computing power chips, and jointly improve product positioning and design forward-looking through in-depth cooperation with enterprises. At the same time, each subsystem shows that car companies can effectively integrate with the chip industry chain, and the system collaboration between them can cope with the challenges of different environments, so as to improve the resilience of the industrial chain.
Challenges faced by China's automotive chip industry under the framework of the five-helix innovation theory
As the most important resource in the five-helix innovation theory, knowledge is an important guarantee for the sustainability of innovation. "All systems in the five helixes achieve novelty, advancement and pioneering innovation through the mutual influence of knowledge. Therefore, it is possible to describe the operation of the knowledge related to automotive chips from the perspective of each subsystem, and explore the interaction between them and the main challenges they face.
1) According to the Five Helix Innovation Theory, knowledge as an input, invested in the economic system can provide the impetus for innovation. Judging from the situation faced by China, it is necessary to tilt resources to the rapidly developing automotive chip industry. At present, the application ability and scope of knowledge are closely related to the degree of integration between enterprises and industries, and enterprise agglomeration will produce knowledge spillover effects, through enterprise cooperation, sharing knowledge within an appropriate range, can promote technological development, thereby improving the innovation efficiency of enterprises, reducing the innovation cost of enterprises, and enhancing the overall competitiveness of the industry. As an important subject in the innovation system, on the one hand, China's R&D enterprises are small in scale, experimental equipment has become a short board, and the homogenization of R&D is more serious, while the innovation atmosphere of the R&D team of large enterprises is relatively dull, and the goal of technological breakthrough is relatively scattered, which is not conducive to a single technological breakthrough in the case of a fixed number of organizational personnel. On the other hand, China's automotive chip talent is insufficient, and it is difficult to break through key core technologies, and at the same time, limited by foreign technology blockade, software and hardware are obviously "stuck in the neck", resulting in low overall R&D efficiency and slow industrialization progress.
2) The input of new knowledge in the spiral through human resources will increase the reserves and value of the knowledge economy. Increasing knowledge at the basic level through the education system can stimulate the sustainability of technology creation with a view to gaining opportunities for the future development of the automotive chip industry. Universities and research institutes play an important role in this system, providing talent support for the development of the automotive chip industry. In essence, it is necessary to improve the talent reserve and stimulate the creativity of talents, so as to cope with the current shortage of talent reserves in the automotive chip industry and the constraints on the introduction of talents, so as to solve the problem that China's automotive chip industry is controlled by others in core technology research and development and key component manufacturing. However, the smooth operation of the industry-university-research collaborative development system between enterprises, universities and research institutes still needs to be improved. The research focused on by universities and research institutes cannot directly support enterprise innovation, and the problem is that "there is a lack of experience in the frontier of cutting-edge technologies, most of which are concentrated at the application level, and there are relatively few talents to study underlying systems such as algorithms and chips". In this regard, enterprises need to transform, and the talents cultivated by universities and scientific research institutes also need a certain amount of time to adapt to enterprises, resulting in low efficiency of knowledge transfer.
3) One of the goals of the Five Helix Innovation Theory is to live in harmony with nature, so it is necessary to develop renewable technologies and achieve sustainable use of existing resources. This can be achieved through innovation, but technological improvements resulting from new knowledge can also have an impact on the natural environment. As an industry that accounts for nearly one-quarter of global carbon emissions, the automotive industry's carbon reduction efforts and progress are crucial to achieving the 1.5°C threshold as scheduled. As an important electronic component for controlling automobiles, chips will be combined with new energy technologies to promote environmental protection. Specifically, the development of the new energy vehicle industry needs to rely on high-performance, high-reliability, and low-energy consumption chips, which can not only improve the energy utilization rate of automobiles, but also reduce environmental pollution. At the same time, in the process of chip technology development, it is also necessary to consider how to reduce energy consumption, reduce waste emissions and other environmental issues, so as to achieve harmonious coexistence with nature.
4) Rely on the media to publicize domestic automotive chips and enhance the brand influence of domestic chips, so as to improve the public's acceptance of domestic chips and create a good innovation environment for the research and development of Chinese enterprises. In this subsystem, the media "is not only the disseminator and promoter of new technologies, but also the initiators of technology, the bridge of communication between technology, scientists, the government and the public, and plays an important role in improving the public's rational understanding of technology and promoting public participation in technological decision-making." "Both Chinese auto companies and Chinese auto chip companies are in the stage of opening up their popularity and improving their brand image. On the one hand, there is still a gap between China's automotive chip companies and mature foreign companies in terms of product quality and service, and it is difficult to occupy a place in the automotive industry chain. On the other hand, Chinese auto brands are trying to increase production, expand the market, increase public acceptance, and build Volkswagen's perception of Chinese auto brands. Therefore, it is necessary for the media to increase the investment of social capital through the output of relevant knowledge, so as to achieve sustainable development and form a relatively stable car culture. It can be seen that the subsystem needs to convey the public's needs, problems, or satisfaction to the political system as an output, and the output of public knowledge based on media and culture thus becomes a new input to the political system.
5) The input of knowledge to the political system reflects the will of the state, and also represents the collective knowledge from the other four subsystems of society, and the goal of this knowledge creation is to achieve national development and common prosperity. The important discussion on this new knowledge in the political system is the necessary driving force for knowledge creation, and its main role focuses on three aspects: strategic guidance, institutional guarantee, and overall coordination. The government needs to transcend the local interests of the other four systems, play a role as a whole, improve the cooperation between subsystems on automotive chip issues, and guide other systems to build an innovative and stable automotive chip industry chain through policies and regulations in line with the actual situation of China's economy, society and scientific research capabilities, and promote the sustainable development of the remaining systems. The new output of knowledge and skills from the political system allows the circulation of knowledge to re-enter the education system, the economic system, the natural environment, and the media and public systems, making the practice of the Five Helix Innovation Theory sustainable and more effective.
Opportunities and routes for China's automotive chip R&D
Opportunities for China's automotive chip R&D
China's share of global chip manufacturing has risen from less than 1% in 1990 to 15% in 2021, while the US has fallen from 37% to 12%. In this context, China, as the world's largest automotive market, has great potential to solve the problem of chip "stuck neck". On the one hand, China has an independent and complete industrial system, which has laid the foundation for the breakthrough of automotive chips, relying on this, through the construction of talent echelon, the establishment of a demand-oriented, problem-solving-oriented project mechanism, around the automotive chip industry to carry out the layout of the whole industrial chain, give full play to the national advantages guided by major scientific and technological projects and national laboratories, and make use of industrial advantages to focus on breakthroughs in key technologies. On the other hand, China has the advantage of a new national system that allows it to continuously invest in this field until it achieves its strategic goals. Give full play to the advantages of the new national system and the role of market-oriented resource allocation, led by the common innovation platform, cooperate with the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, cross-border integration of chip and new energy vehicle industries, and link "government, industry, academia, research and capital innovation" to realize the independent, safe, controllable and comprehensive development of China's automotive chip industry. The Five Helix Innovation Theory suggests that if there is to be a breakthrough, all systems must work together efficiently and collaboratively. Investments at the national level can be used as a breakthrough to create linkages with other subsystems. Investment in new knowledge and technologies and the promotion of production are important drivers of innovation and social progress. Through the breakthrough of the automotive chip industry, it will lay the foundation for the further development of China's automobile industry towards the "three modernizations", and finally realize that the automobile industry has a place in the world.
At the industrial level, as automobiles move towards the "three modernizations", the traditional model of providing mature products by Tier 1 suppliers is gradually being broken. The construction of a flat and diversified network ecology has led to the weakening of the voice of traditional Tier 1 suppliers, which provides an opportunity for Chinese automotive chip companies to enter the supply network and an opportunity for Chinese automotive chip companies to participate in core technology research and development. The establishment of an industrial innovation ecosystem can not only realize the independent and controllable supply chain of the automotive industry, but also occupy a place in the international arena and integrate Chinese standards into internationalization.
The game between the United States, Europe and China has made the Chinese government and enterprises realize the importance of independent and controllable chips for national security and industrial development. However, the R&D progress of the Chinese government and enterprises in the chip industry has seriously affected the development speed of the chip industry. In the "Made in China 2025" and the "14th Five-Year Plan", chips are regarded as one of the basic technologies to support high-quality development in the future. And with the state's policy support and subsidies for the new energy vehicle industry, the new energy vehicle industry has ushered in a period of rapid development, which also brings opportunities to the automotive chip industry. In order to promote the industry to achieve independent and controllable, the country has put forward a series of related industry development directions such as "automotive chips" at the height of "automobile power", and vigorously supported the healthy development of the chip industry in China. At the same time, China's large and growing automotive market, especially the popularity of new energy vehicles, is stimulating a huge demand for automotive chips.
It can be seen that the coordinated development of the industry led by the state can not only ensure efficient implementation, but also balance the overheating of the market and provide opportunities for the healthy development of China's automotive chip industry. Focusing on the major needs and bottlenecks of China's automotive chips, we will carry out the connection of supply and demand information between the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, the formulation of industry standards, and the breakthrough of core chip technology, so as to realize the domestic substitution and international development of automotive chips, and build China into a global innovation and industrial highland for automotive chips.
3 stages of automotive chip R&D
From the perspective of the global chip development process, according to the law of technology maturity curve, "although the chip industry shows signs of maturity at the industry level, the research of various market segments shows that both in terms of technology and in the market are facing the possibility of continuous disruption." With the advent of the "post-Moore era" of the chip industry, on the one hand, the difficulty of technological breakthroughs has intensified, disruptive technologies are being nurtured, and there are different technical routes of competition; on the other hand, China is still in the development period, and Moore's Law is still valid for China, providing an opportunity for China to catch up. Therefore, whether a country will lead in a certain field in the future depends largely on its ability to generate new knowledge and balance technological, social and natural development.
From the perspective of the industrial chain, China has formed a whole industrial chain structure and a complete supply chain pattern of "upstream devices, midstream chip manufacturing, downstream sales, and terminal applications". However, from the perspective of development history, chips do not completely follow the law of sequential development, and can also be a reverse development trajectory from the downstream application of the industrial chain to the upstream materials. Although China has a complete chip industry chain, it is affected by the international industrial chain, resulting in blockages in China's industrial chain. In this regard, in the chip R&D ecosystem, it can be divided into three modules, namely the R&D module based on scientific research, the chip manufacturing module based on investment, and the packaging and testing module with equal emphasis on investment and labor. "Wafer manufacturing requires a lot of R&D investment, and the capital investment required for packaging and testing is about 1/10 of wafer manufacturing, so there are many chip packaging and testing companies in China. "Overall, China has strong competitiveness in modules 2 and 3, but R&D modules are China's shortcomings and the restrictions imposed by the United States on China. In this regard, China can "give full play to the decisive role of the market in allocating scientific and technological resources, and at the same time use the government's organizational capacity to concentrate national scientific and technological resources, and provide strong support for overcoming the 'bottleneck' technology," to achieve reverse development.
In the first stage, we will open a breakthrough in accordance with the "flying geese" model and give full play to the advantages of manufacturing and market scale. China has mastered the design and manufacturing technology required for automotive chips, but there are still technical shortcomings in high-computing power automotive chips, so it needs to rely on imported parts. In order to maintain the upward development trend of China's new energy vehicles, it is possible to attract and hire foreign advanced talents with high salaries and cultivate local talents by opening up the market, so as to achieve rapid absorption of technology. Take talents as an opportunity to promote the development of diversified technologies, determine core competitiveness, and ensure the freedom of technological exploration through appropriate structural arrangements while selecting the development path.
In the second phase, through the joint efforts of the government, enterprises and scientific research institutions, we will improve the quality and reliability of automotive chips, and focus on expanding production capacity and investing in research and development of high-performance chips. "Chinese enterprises can adjust the focus of R&D, target discrete devices, sensors, analog circuits and other inefficient market segments, strengthen basic research, R&D investment and talent training and a series of work, open up innovation breakthroughs in potential market segments; "In response to the specific needs of different models, car companies work closely with chip manufacturers to achieve personalized research and development, and help car companies find the right market positioning, in order to further enhance the level of industrial development and international competitiveness.
Phase 3 focuses on greater self-sufficiency in the supply chain, which includes the development of advanced chip technologies and the establishment of a complete industrial ecosystem. This process requires the collaboration of all links, from raw material procurement to product manufacturing to market sales, to achieve the optimization and efficiency improvement of the whole process. Therefore, it is necessary to build a resilient supply chain to cope with various emergencies and risks. For this reason, more factors need to be taken into account in the design of products and production processes, such as the diversification of the supply chain, the availability of spare parts and spare parts, the flexibility of the production process, and so on. At the same time, in order to improve the reliability and efficiency of the supply chain, it is also necessary to strengthen research and development in areas such as Internet of Things technology, artificial intelligence, and automation control. Through continuous innovation and the application of advanced technologies, while achieving more efficient and intelligent supply chain self-sufficiency, it will also bring sustainable and stable development momentum to the global manufacturing industry.
"On the one hand, the government determines the long-term roadmap for the development of the chip industry, and takes corresponding investment, taxation, finance and intellectual property rights and other related supporting measures according to local conditions at different stages of development; "to respond to changing market demands and challenges.
Exploration of the route of China's automotive chip research and development
The development of automotive chips in China can be regarded as the theoretical embodiment of the technological S-curve proposed by Christensen, and the potential for technological improvement will be gradually released over time. Although the external environment has had a certain impact on the development of China's chip technology, it still has great potential in terms of the development of the technology itself. Combined with the actual situation, in the case of coordinated development with automobile enterprises, enterprises with different scales and R&D capabilities can develop from different routes: first, the development of core technologies and investment in domestic alternative products; second, technology R&D from the application scenario with import and domestic product portfolio application; third, based on independent research and development, through the introduction, absorption and re-innovation, to achieve independent and controllable chip production.
China's chip industry "presents a structural imbalance and an imbalance between supply and demand: the demand is large but the domestic self-sufficiency rate is low, and raw materials, software, equipment, processing, etc. are heavily dependent on imports; "Therefore, it is necessary to solve the core technology as a breakthrough point to drive the price increase of the localization level of the industrial chain, which is suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups specializing in technology.
Starting from the application scenario, it is necessary to focus on the actual needs of automobile manufacturers and end users when developing automotive chips. By working closely with car manufacturers, chipmakers can better understand the specific requirements of different vehicle models and optimize chip designs accordingly. This allows chipmakers to develop chips that are more suited to market needs and helps distinguish Chinese automakers from their competitors. In addition to working with automakers, Chinese chipmakers can also use a combination of imported and domestic components. This means combining imported and domestic components in the production of automotive chips, improving the quality and reliability of the product while reducing costs. As a result, China's automotive chip industry can improve its technology research and development capabilities and produce high-quality chips that are more suitable for the domestic market demand, which will help reduce China's dependence on imported chips and enhance the country's comprehensive competitiveness in the automotive field.
Independent R&D means that Chinese chipmakers are developing their own intellectual property and technology, and can adopt a strategy of absorption and re-innovation, and actively learn foreign technology, so that Chinese manufacturers can better control the production process and create products suitable for the market. Or in the existing technology, through independent research and development to bypass the existing technology development path, guided by the target function, you can establish your own technical capabilities, enhance your competitiveness in the global market.
Based on these approaches, Chinese chip manufacturers can develop their own intellectual property rights and technologies, and adjust and improve foreign technologies to achieve independent and controllable chip production, establish China's automotive chip industry ecosystem, and promote the domestic chip industry to become bigger and stronger, which has become an important foundation for the development of China's automobile industry.
Suggestions for the development of China's automotive chip industry
As the world's largest automotive market, China's demand for automotive chips has grown rapidly in recent years. However, the domestic chip industry is still in the early stage of development, and there is a gap compared with the advanced chip manufacturing technology of the United States, Japan, South Korea and other countries. As a result, Chinese automakers rely heavily on imported chips, especially from the United States. But ongoing trade frictions between China and the United States, as well as U.S. export controls on certain high-tech products, have made it increasingly difficult for Chinese automakers to get the products they need. In this context, China has been investing heavily in the domestic chip industry and actively promoting the development of local chip technology. To this end, it is necessary to make breakthroughs in technical difficulties, and take this as a starting point to promote the overall improvement of the innovation system's capabilities, that is, to build China's automotive chip industry system based on original innovation and supported by high-quality open cooperation, and strive to solve strategic and long-term scientific and technological problems in the development of China's automotive chip industry. First, the government provides financial support for the transformation of basic research achievements of automotive chips, and various research institutes continue to track the R&D trends of developed countries and provide cutting-edge consulting for enterprises; second, through automotive chip companies to solve the scalability problem of sharing and integration between China's auto industry and the global auto industry; third, enterprises should cultivate, employ and retain high-quality R&D personnel, who will become an important driving force for innovation and help China plan and build the core position of the future automotive chip industry. Specific measures may include the following:
1) Promote the ability to strengthen coordination among various innovation actors. The government can use existing institutions and networks to link up with universities, auto and chip companies, and set up an automotive chip strategy and technical committee to compare the strategic goals of different countries and companies, seek potential international cooperation, identify major obstacles, and consider the research and application of dual-use technologies. At the same time, the innovation measures of various enterprises can be coordinated, and asymmetric R&D between universities and scientific research institutions and enterprises can be encouraged. The Ministry of Science and Technology and other relevant ministries and commissions can set up R&D projects in cooperation with enterprises, "focusing on the wafer manufacturing process and implementing the special project of 'making up for shortcomings' around the manufacturing equipment and materials, so as to truly solve the shortcomings of manufacturing capacity in the motor control unit (MCU) and system-on-chip (SoC) for automobiles." "This can share R&D costs, improve the intellectual property information sharing mechanism, and help technological breakthroughs.
2) Establish a mechanism for safety and efficiency in parallel. The particularity of automotive chips needs to ensure their safety and achieve efficient operation at the same time, so it is necessary to build a system mechanism composed of industrial supervision, automobile insurance and market punishment. At present, in the field of automotive chips, foreign companies have "staked their ground" and used their own advantages, especially intellectual property advantages, to play an increasingly important role in trade. At the same time, first-line advanced enterprises have also effectively prevented China's independent research and development by virtue of the advantages of intellectual property rights, restricting the improvement of China's chip technology level. Therefore, if a mechanism of security and efficiency is established, in terms of technology introduction, we can avoid falling into the trap set by foreign enterprises, so as to protect the interests of Chinese enterprises to the greatest extent, and in addition, through the integration of intellectual property rights, we can effectively reduce the phenomenon of duplicate development, so as to improve the overall R&D efficiency.
3) Encourage enterprises to participate in the acquisition of foreign technology leaders and start-ups. For most Chinese automotive chip companies, mergers and acquisitions are the key to expanding and consolidating market positions and integrating resources for innovation. China should support leading domestic enterprises to use FDI to acquire breakthrough innovations, new management concepts, and important intellectual property rights. The existing research shows that "there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between government subsidies and the innovation output of 'neck-stuck' technology enterprises, and the degree of enterprise participation in the internal circulation plays a moderating role in the inverted U-shaped relationship between government subsidies and the innovation output of 'neck-stuck' technology enterprises." "In this regard, the subsidy can be divided into two parts: one is the R&D subsidy, which focuses on applied research and gives policy support to basic scientific research, and the other part is the subsidy for car companies, which can be reflected in the form of tax reduction and exemption for procurement, bidding, evaluation and long-term planning, so as to keep up with the pace of global automotive chip development. At the same time, it is necessary to give full play to the role of government procurement, reduce the risk of products entering the market, expand the market scale, and provide strong support for the development of the automobile industry.
4) Regard the cultivation of automotive chip talents as a key infrastructure. It is necessary to take attracting and retaining top chip R&D talents as a national strategic goal, and achieve it by improving the flexibility of employment policies, the perfection of the salary system, the competitiveness of R&D institutions, and the provision of advanced equipment and research infrastructure. At the same time, the establishment of an application-oriented talent pool, to solve the problem of talent gap, "break the boundaries of government departments and enterprises to select outstanding management talents and scientific and technological talents, so that the research funds are implemented to the research group that is truly capable and honest in use." "On the one hand, it is necessary to guide colleges and universities to strengthen the training methods and numbers of chip-related majors and basic disciplines through policies, so as to expand the talent pool pool. On the other hand, we should also pay attention to the joint training of talents, so as to realize the seamless connection of education, talents and science and technology, so as to promote the integration process of the entire training system.
conclusion
Automotive chips play an indispensable role in the development of the "three modernizations" of the automobile industry, and have become one of the important strategic directions to promote the transformation and upgrading of China's manufacturing industry. In the fierce global competitive environment, China's automotive chip industry needs to continue to innovate and make breakthroughs to meet the growing demand of the market and consumers for high-quality, high-performance automotive chips. For China's local chip companies, this is both an opportunity and a challenge. In this context, some car companies have begun to try to change the original supply chain cooperation model, choosing to cooperate directly with chip companies to jointly carry out R&D, design, manufacturing and packaging chips, so as to enhance the control ability of the entire chip industry chain. China should give full play to its institutional and institutional advantages, focus on solving the problem of "stuck necks", and effectively connect the two ends of the industrial chain. Only through continuous innovation and development can China's automotive chip industry occupy a place in the global market like China's new energy vehicles, and become an important force leading the development of the global automotive industry.
About author:Huo Jiaxin is a postdoctoral fellow at the China Academy of Science and Technology for Strategic Development and Technology, with research interests in science and technology and society, and science and technology policy, and Li Zhe (corresponding author) is a researcher at the China Academy of Science and Technology for Strategic Development, with research interests in science and technology policy.
The original article was published in the second issue of Science and Technology Review in 2024, welcome to subscribe to view.