Text: Cao Cailin
Without these points of light, we cannot become a strong country
If it weren't for the on-the-ground visits to China's high-tech companies, we might not have been able to imagine how our lives today could be changed by them.
——Shanghai Super Silicon Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shanghai Super Silicon") in Songjiang, the 300mm fully automatic intelligent production line is the world's most automated silicon wafer production line in the past 20 years. Chen Meng, the founder, chairman and president of the company, made a vivid analogy of the purity of silicon wafers, "Imagine that in an area of Jiangsu Province, the impurities that are only the size of four coins are cleaned", and silicon wafers are the cornerstone of chips.
——UNISOC (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "UNISOC UNISOC"), located in Zhangjiang Hi-Tech, as a platform-based chip design company, is one of the few companies in the world that has mastered Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 2G/3G/4G/5G, TV FM, satellite communication and other full-scene communication technologies.
——In Shanghai Jinqiao Export Processing Zone, AMEC Semiconductor Equipment (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. closely follows the advanced manufacturing process and provides the foundation for the digital era through high-end semiconductor micro-processing equipment, supports chips to become smaller and smaller, and boosts the informatization, intelligence and intelligence of human production and life.
——At the Zhiji New Energy Automobile Factory in Jiading, the test vehicles that have come out of the stream, through the interconnection of intelligent assistance, have long been able to easily help drivers cope with problems such as "side parking" and "extreme delivery".
▲Shanghai Super Silicon Semiconductor Co., Ltd. silicon wafer production line
From chip raw materials, to chip design, to chip processing and application, these enterprises gathered in Shanghai are the sparks and points of light in all links of the mainland's integrated circuit industry chain. The application scenarios in the UNISOC technology exhibition hall show that a series of fields representing modern technology and future scientific research, such as consumer electronics, industrial interconnection, automotive electronics, satellite communications, and 6G, are inseparable from the underlying technical support of chips.
A layout of the Shanghai Super Silicon Exhibition Hall is even more memorable: the world map with a blue background is marked with some light spots of different colors, and the light point gathering area forms a white light band, distributed in North America, Europe, Japan, South Korea and China, shining in the air, and the world is also separated. Facing this map layout, Dr. Chen Meng, founder, chairman and CEO of Shanghai Super Silicon, said solemnly, "These light spots represent the major companies in the global integrated circuit industry chain, and if a country does not have these light spots, it cannot be a future power."
With the in-depth development of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, the production and lifestyle of human beings have been profoundly changed, and the factor conditions, development direction, and evolution path of the productive forces are also changing. The vigorous emergence of scientific and technological achievements has provided a strong source of power for the development of new quality productivity, but many science and technology enterprises representing new quality productivity are also facing a variety of challenges. Yang Fu, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary of the Board of Directors of UNISOC said, "From the 2G to 5G era, the number of chip manufacturers in the world has decreased from dozens to dozens, and now there are less than five. ”
However, in the long R&D cycle, many high-tech enterprises in addition to large R&D expenditures and fierce market competition also have to face the special strong cyclicality of the industry, which requires more policy support, stable capital and coordinated development. Among the high-tech enterprises in Shanghai, long-term and stable funds from financial central enterprises are gradually entering to protect the "light spots" lit by science and technology enterprises.
"As the most scarce patient capital and high-energy capital in the market, insurance funds can well meet the financing needs of scientific and technological innovation enterprises and provide full-cycle financial services for scientific and technological innovation enterprises." Liu Fan, vice president of the asset company of Chinese Life Group, said.
Chinese Life, which has the "great power of the country" in mind, once again gives full play to the advantages of large scale, long term and high stability of insurance funds in the field of science and technology finance, and promotes the cultivation and development of new quality productive forces. Zhao Jun, vice president of Chinese Life Asset Company, introduced that as early as 2022, Chinese Life formulated the "Implementation Plan for Chinese Life Insurance Funds to Implement the Decision and Deployment of the Party Central Committee and Serve the National Strategy" at the top-level design level, and successively issued the "Opinions of Chinese Life on Further Supporting High-level Scientific and Technological Self-reliance and Self-reliance" and "Opinions of Chinese Life Investment on Supporting Scientific and Technological Self-reliance and Self-reliance", etc., to accelerate the construction of a multi-level, professional and characteristic science and technology financial service system, continue to enrich products and services, and meet the financing needs of technology-based enterprises.
▲Chinese Life invests in silicon-based bionic to support the development of national scientific and technological innovation
In 2023, Chinese Life initiated the establishment of the "Chinese Life - Shanghai Development No. 1 Equity Investment Plan", which acquired the equity of Shanghai Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund Co., Ltd. held by Shanghai state-owned enterprises in the form of S (Secondary) share investment, with an investment scale of about 11.8 billion yuan, which also means that Chinese Life has become an indirect shareholder of more than ten leading integrated circuit enterprises, and has strongly supported the development of the mainland's integrated circuit industry through science and technology finance.
Liu Fan further introduced, "The Chinese Life-Hufa No. 1 Equity Investment Plan explores the relay cooperation model between insurance funds and government funds in regional development and industrial support. In the early stage of the model, the government plans and guides industrial development, and incubates and cultivates key areas from zero to one, while social capital such as insurance funds 'relays' when industrial development achieves phased results, shares financial returns, helps the government 'free up cages for birds', improves the efficiency of financial funds, and breaks down the barriers between industrial guidance and market-oriented development. ”
In the Greater Bay Area, a group of technology companies are "taking off"
Moving from Shanghai to Shenzhen, this young city is also a hot spot for technology start-ups, and has formed another hub for science and technology innovation and manufacturing with neighboring places such as Dongguan, which has advanced manufacturing. By the end of 2022, there were more than 23,000 national high-tech enterprises in Shenzhen. Last year, Shenzhen added 1,615 new national high-tech enterprises, bringing the total number to 24,700.
In the process of Shenzhen's scientific and technological innovation development, enterprises have always played a vital role. 18 years ago, Zheng Quanchang founded Shenzhen Ruifengheng Laser Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Ruifengheng") in Shenzhen, which is now quite large-scale, and the company's main business is solid-state ultraviolet lasers, which are essential production tools for emerging industries such as electronics, photovoltaics, and communications.
▲The staff of Ruifeng Heng Huizhou R&D workshop is debugging the laser
Zheng Quanchang recalled that with the rapid development of smartphones, ultraviolet laser equipment for fine processing also entered a golden decade in 2012. Looking back on this period, Zheng Quanchang said that enterprises want to seize opportunities and need funds for development, but financing is not easy. Due to the lack of collateral such as factory buildings, they could only obtain funds with their own real estate mortgages and invest in product research and development. "The first loan took many times to get out of the intermediary, which was time-consuming and laborious, and the interest rate was also high."
In Shenzhen, there are many technology companies that have had financing difficulties and financing needs.
"Shenzhen Hongxinyu Electronics Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as 'Hongxinyu') is an enterprise that is developing rapidly at the speed of inventing a patent in about three days," Liang Qiyan, director of Hongxinyu and vice president of the group, said. After the completion of three rounds of financing in 2022, the company's valuation has exceeded 10.181 billion yuan, and Liang Qiyan expects that in 2024, after Hongxinyu continues to increase R&D investment, the proportion of enterprise R&D personnel will exceed 70%.
However, in the actual financing process, Liang Qiyan has also seen contradictions. "In the past ten years, financing institutions have preferred companies with 'physical', and enterprises like Hongxinyu that focus on research and development, the most valuable asset is R&D engineers, but they are not recorded in the company's balance sheet, so financial institutions need to have strategic vision."
High investment, long cycle, light assets, and no collateral are the characteristics of science and technology enterprises, and they are also difficult to finance.
However, last year, Ruifengheng, which had a sharp increase in orders, quickly obtained a loan of 5 million yuan after being investigated by the business team of Shenzhen High-tech Sub-branch of Guangfa Bank. "After uploading the information through the Nanshan Science and Technology Finance online platform, it was GF's business personnel who took the initiative to introduce the product to us, and the loan approval speed was very fast." Zheng Quanchang said. Hongxinyu has also enjoyed the "Tengfei Loan" business of the Shenzhen Branch of Guangfa Bank, which has the largest single amount in Shenzhen, and a credit support of 50 million yuan, which has helped the company survive the downward cycle of the industry and enter the fast lane of development.
Zhao Qian, Vice President of China Guangfa Bank Shenzhen Branch, said, "In recent years, China Guangfa Bank Shenzhen Branch has provided different financing solutions for enterprises with different development cycles. For enterprises in the early stage of development, we provide financial products such as 'technology E-loan' and 'specialized, special and new E-loan', and for 'tarmac' enterprises in the high-growth period, we provide 'Tengfei Loan' business."
In Shenzhen, enterprises such as Hongxinyu in the high growth period are vividly compared to enterprises that are waiting on the "tarmac" to prepare for "take-off". In response to the needs and characteristics of these enterprises, China Guangfa Bank Shenzhen Branch has launched the innovative service model of "Tengfei Loan", which provides higher credit lines and longer loan terms through flexible interest rate pricing and interest repayment methods, balances loan income and business results, promotes "big improvement" with "small incisions", and helps growing science and technology enterprises "spread their wings and take off".
As a member of Chinese Life Group, China Guangfa Bank actively integrates into the major national development strategies, makes use of the strategy and location advantages of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and promotes the occurrence and growth of new quality productivity in the Greater Bay Area through different products and local conditions.
In Dongguan, based on the city's development orientation and economic structure characteristics, Guangfa Bank Dongguan Branch actively uses the policy product of Dongguan Branch to support the construction of the Bay Area, "Guangfa Bank Manufacturing Upgrading Plant Construction Loan Product Plan", to negotiate financing plans with enterprises for high-quality manufacturing enterprises such as Guangdong Dingtai High-tech Technology Co., Ltd., and gain the trust of enterprises through efficient, high-quality and considerate financial services.
In addition, China Guangfa Bank Shenzhen Branch also vigorously promotes the intellectual property pledge financing business, actively promotes the pledge financing of the exclusive right to use trademarks, and helps enterprises rely on the registered trademarks under their names to obtain financing support and alleviate the pressure on capital turnover. These are all effective annotations for China Guangfa Bank to focus on key areas such as strategic emerging in the Greater Bay Area, advanced manufacturing, and technological innovation, and empower science and technology enterprises.
How finance dances with technology
How to make good use of financial resources and earnestly help high-tech enterprises develop new productive forces has also become a major issue for financial institutions. In the past, the main problems included the contradiction between the stable insurance funds and the high risk of scientific and technological innovation enterprises, as well as the fact that financial resources were more willing to invest in mature "unicorns", while enterprises in the field of technological innovation, which were really at the bottom but at the forefront of major frontiers, lacked financial support paths.
In the face of difficult problems, Chinese Life explored and practiced the "Chinese Life-Hufa No. 1 Equity Investment Plan" and adopted the method of relay "shareholding" innovation; It also includes a more flexible "alternative investment" in the field of scientific and technological innovation. In the past few years, Chinese Life has initiated and established the "Chinese Life-Changcun Phase II Project Debt Investment Plan", "Chinese Life-Electronic Mixed Reform No. 1 Equity Investment Plan", "CICC-XCMG Leasing Phase 2-3 Asset-Backed Special Plan (High-end Manufacturing)", "CICC-CITIC Securities-Sany Leasing Intelligent Equipment Phase 3-4 Asset-Backed Special Plan" and other plans, these investment plans and projects focus on promoting the solution of the "stuck neck" project; Assist in the construction of domestic CPU and domestic operating system systems, and accelerate the breakthrough of key core technologies in the field of network information; Help many small and medium-sized enterprises to purchase the machinery and equipment of XCMG Mechanical Engineering, carry out equipment renewal and technological transformation, so that the space for financial support for science and technology enterprises and scientific and technological innovation is further opened.
The "Branch" products of China Guangfa Bank, a member unit of Chinese Life Group, are also overwhelmed, and the comprehensive service solutions of the whole life cycle such as "Science and Technology Innovation and Wisdom Integration" provide differentiated financial services for technology-based enterprises from the seed stage, start-up stage, growth stage to maturity stage; With special financing support products such as "science and technology credit" and "science and technology E loan", we pay special attention to "tailor-made" to provide flexible financing support for customers in science and technology industries such as new materials and biomedicine; We will continue to improve the level of online convenience services, promote the online service "e-loan easy repayment", upgrade the online flagship product of "cross-border instantaneous communication" international business, launch full-process online guarantee and other products, and comprehensively improve the financing and settlement facilitation of technology enterprises, all of which effectively cover the whole chain of scientific and technological innovation and the whole life cycle of technology enterprises.
It is reported that in 2023, the amount of risk protection of Chinese Life Technology Insurance will reach 87 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 133%. By the end of 2023, the scale of the group's support for scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement exceeded 330 billion yuan; The balance of loans to technology-based enterprises was nearly 189 billion yuan, providing strong support for the virtuous cycle and effective interaction between finance, science and technology and industry.
In the Yangtze River Delta, in the Greater Bay Area, and in the vast hot land of China, Chinese Life gives full play to the comprehensive financial advantages of the coordinated development of the three major business sectors of insurance, investment and banking, continuously strengthens the understanding and evaluation capabilities of financial institutions on scientific and technological innovation, improves the level of risk understanding and control of scientific and technological activities, actively explores the matching of the characteristics of financial and technological innovation, and makes overall use of equity, debt, insurance, loans and other means to provide full-chain and full-cycle financial services for strategic emerging industries and technology-based enterprises. Inject a steady stream of financial energy into the development of new quality productive forces.
It is foreseeable that in the future, "technology + finance" will continue to deepen and evolve, and be transformed into a powerful driving force to promote the country's high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-reliance.
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