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Behind The Growth Of Guangdong Chip: The Semiconductor Industry In Dawan District Explores The Road Of "Third Pole"

2021/7/28 8:39:00 0

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Editor's note

If the small and medium-sized enterprises are good, China's economy will be good“ With more "Gazelle" enterprises, the innovation vitality of a region is high.

President Xi Jinping said, "small and medium-sized enterprises can do great things.". Vice Premier Liu He also said that vigorous small and medium-sized enterprises and diversified and differentiated economic ecology are the most important guarantee for China's economic resilience“ Innovation is the soul of "specialization and innovation". At present, scientific and technological innovation is not only a development problem, but also a survival problem. It is necessary to cultivate and support "specialized and special new" enterprises, and the capital market will create good conditions for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.

"Gazelle" enterprises are the representatives of small and medium-sized science and technology enterprises, and the representatives of "specialized and special new". The cultivation of "Gazelle" enterprises has become the key layout to improve the innovation system and build the modern industrial system.

Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay area is the main breeding place and habitat of gazelle enterprises. In the construction and development process of "world-class" and "world-class" as the goal, and in the innovation and development process of 20 strategic industrial clusters in Guangdong Province, what is the real survival status of gazelle enterprises? How can they run faster and jump higher?

Following the successful launch of a large-scale special report on gazelle enterprises in 2020, China Southern finance and economics all media group once again cooperated with the headquarters of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay area of China Central Radio and television, and planned to launch the second quarter of "high growth enterprise theory · 2021 large scale special report on gazelle enterprises in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay Area", focusing on semiconductors and integrated circuits, advanced materials / cutting-edge new materials New energy and other strategic industrial clusters in Guangdong Province will join hands with investment institutions, experts and scholars to conduct in-depth research, and will launch 10 issues of in-depth topics in the form of in-depth text reports, long-term videos and series of research reports, so as to continuously discover the new trend and new pattern of strategic industrial clusters in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.

In the first phase, let's focus on the semiconductor and integrated circuit industry, and focus on the semiconductor manufacturing field which is at the top of the semiconductor industry chain and has great industrial accumulation effect.

The rapid rise of Guangdong core semiconductor has become a new sample of domestic semiconductor manufacturing industry in recent years.

Yuexin carries two special labels on his body. First, Guangdong core semiconductor is the first and only one in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay area One 12 inch wafer manufacturing enterprises entering mass production; Secondly, Guangdong chip is also the only mass production enterprise in the field of 12 inch wafer foundry in mainland China since 2006.

As we all know, semiconductor is a capital and talent intensive industry, and the manufacturing link in the industrial chain is a "money burning game" at the top of the industrial chain. To cultivate a successful wafer foundry enterprise, we need to form a joint effort. Since its establishment in 2017, Guangdong chip semiconductor has gradually gathered the advantages of favorable timing, location and human resources, aiming at the analog chip track and accelerating the process of scale-up and commercialization.

At the beginning of July this year, Guangdong core semiconductor completed the second phase project financing. The investors are composed of Guangdong semiconductor and integrated circuit industry investment fund, state investment venture capital, Lanpu venture capital, Huadeng international, Jifu venture capital, GAC capital, Huiyou investment and ABC investment.

This financing will be mainly used for the construction of Yuexin phase II project. The second phase project will increase the monthly production capacity of 20000 pieces, and the technology node will be extended to 55nm process. At present, the equipment is gradually moved in, and it is expected to be put into operation in the first quarter of 2022. Yuexin phase I project has been completed and put into operation in September 2019 and put into operation at full capacity in December 2020, with a yield rate of more than 97%.

According to the plan of Guangdong semiconductor, the project is planned to be carried out in three phases with a total investment of about 37 billion yuan. The third stage technology node is further extended to 55-40nm, 22nm process, realizing scale effect and quality benefit of analog chip manufacturing. After the third phase of construction is completed and put into operation, the production capacity of high-end analog chips with a monthly output of nearly 80000 pieces of 12 inch wafers will be realized to meet the demand of power discrete devices, power management chips, mixed signal chips, image sensors, RF chips, micro control units and other chips in the manufacturing industry of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.

A senior person in the semiconductor industry told the 21st century economic reporter that Guangdong chip has been able to rapidly mass produce in more than three years, which has led to the synergy of the upstream and downstream industrial chains of semiconductor in Dawan district. At the same time, gdsc is also a key enterprise in the strategy of strong core in Dawan District, which brings new exploration for regional differentiated development.

The source also disclosed that in fact, Guangdong chip semiconductor's final planning "more than three phases.".

Yuexin's birth

At the end of 2017, Guangdong core semiconductor was officially established in Guangzhou Development Zone.

This is a major entrepreneurial project invested by Li Haiming, vice president of Guangdong semiconductor in Guangzhou Development Zone. He once said in an interview: "from the beginning of piling to the actual mass production, it is not more than 18 months. This is the speed of Guangdong core. During this period, Guangzhou Development Zone and Guangdong Province have great support for Guangdong core."

The birth of Guangdong core semiconductor is of great significance to Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. For a long time, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay area is the core area of domestic manufacturing and information industry, and has also cultivated a huge chip application market. However, the chip production capacity in China accounts for less than 10%, which does not match the manufacturing position of Dawan district. With the birth and mass production of Guangdong core semiconductor, the production capacity of Dawan district is further supplemented.

Behind the successful mass production of Guangdong chip, there are many factors to promote, including the choice of market direction, technical ability, commercialization ability, policy support, talent recruitment and so on.

First of all, from the product demand side, Guangdong core semiconductor chose the circuit for manufacturing analog chips“ At present, the chip industry has formed a trend of regional agglomeration. In Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay area, many manufacturing enterprises, such as GAC, Gree and Midea, are involved in chip application. 60% of the chip consumption in the whole country is here every year, but there is no local chip manufacturing company to connect the whole industry chain. " Li Haiming said that it was seeing such an opportunity that Guangdong chip decided to enter the circuit of chip manufacturing.

Previously, Li Haiming told the 21st century economic reporter that "when we start, we should start with fields with a wide and large market and relatively easy access, such as consumer electronics. Therefore, Yuexin first focuses on some fields, including discrete devices, power management, fingerprint identification, image sensing, etc., followed by LCD driver chips, which cover the demand of Dawan district. In the future, we will expand to white household appliances and industrial control, and finally to automotive electronics. "

Guangdong chip focuses on analog chip market. "Analog chips don't take the route of 7Nm or 14nm. TSMC is the leader in digital chips, and we belong to different tracks," Li said. In the field of analog chip, Texas Instruments of the United States and Infineon of Europe are the leading industries at present; In China, Guangdong chip is the first to use 12 inch analog chip, is the leader in this track

According to IDC statistics, China's analog chip market is about 36% of the world's, and the market size is about 19.4 billion US dollars. According to the statistics of China Semiconductor Association, the total revenue of analog integrated circuit enterprises in China in 2020 will be about 16.3 billion yuan, and the self-sufficiency rate is only about 12%. There is still a broad space for growth, and domestic analog chips are in short supply.

Yuexin semiconductor's direction is very clear, based on market demand to position products. In the case of lack of core, the gap of analog chips such as power management increases sharply, which also brings growth opportunities for Guangdong chip.

At the same time, semiconductor Talent Gathering is also crucial. Domestic semiconductor talents are in structural shortage for a long time. According to Guangdong chip semiconductor's estimation, the domestic chip talent gap is about 300000. In Li Haiming's opinion, it will take 5 to 10 years to combine education, industry and research together to catch up. Moreover, Guangdong chip semiconductor can attract core talents from home and abroad to join the enterprise. Besides feelings, it is also closely related to the management's deep background in the semiconductor industry.

In terms of capital, in addition to the investment of the entrepreneurial team itself, Guangdong chip semiconductor has also been supported by relevant local institutions in Guangdong. From the perspective of shareholder structure, more than 5% of the top five shareholders are local institutions in Guangdong. In addition, some people in the semiconductor industry told reporters that Yuexin semiconductor's operation in cost control and sales is quite excellent, which also helps its development.

In the development process of semiconductor enterprises, government support and policy assistance play a very important role. Long term and heavy investment projects need more policy planning. Guangdong chip semiconductor is also the main carrier of Guangdong Province's major strategic deployment of building China's "third pole" IC. Both Guangdong Province and Guangzhou city give Guangdong chip semiconductor support in terms of settlement, construction, operation and investment, as well as supporting policies such as talent and efficient cooperation.

Next, with the promotion of phase II and phase III, the large-scale expansion of gdsc continues.

Domestic manufacturing capacity under "chip shortage"

From the perspective of domestic market, according to IC insights statistics, the scale of China's IC market in 2020 will be 143.4 billion US dollars. The scale of IC market produced in mainland China is about 22.7 billion US dollars, accounting for only 15.9%. Among them, the total output value of companies headquartered in mainland China is 8.3 billion US dollars, accounting for only 5.9%.

Data show that the proportion of production capacity in mainland China is low. In other words, the chip self-sufficiency rate in mainland China is still low. At the same time, since last year, there has been a global "chip shortage", and the situation of insufficient capacity, chip shortage and shortage of supply is even more serious.

At present, there are only four companies in mainland China that have 12 inch OEM production lines for mass production, namely SMIC international, Huahong, Wuhan Xinxin and Yuexin semiconductor. In comparison, Guangdong core semiconductor has a small volume and is still in a rapid growth period.

Semiconductors are cyclical industries. According to the prediction of xinmou research, the shortage of capacity may be alleviated next year, and some processes and products may have relative overcapacity in the following year; But in the long run, China's semiconductor capacity supply and demand gap is still very large.

From the perspective of enterprises, expanding production has become a common choice. In addition to the latest Guangdong core semiconductor phase II under construction, SMIC international and Huahong are also expanding production.

SMIC announced on March 17 that the company signed a cooperation framework agreement with the Shenzhen Municipal People's government, and both sides agreed that SMIC and Shenzhen municipal government intend to develop and operate the project through SMIC Shenzhen in the form of proposed investment. According to the plan, SMIC Shenzhen will focus on the production of 28 nm and above integrated circuits and provide technical services, aiming to achieve the final production capacity of about 40000 12 inch wafers per month, and is expected to start production in 2022.

As a matter of fact, when SMIC listed its a shares, it had disclosed its expansion plan since 2020. There are five factories under expansion, namely, factories in Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Shenzhen and Jiangyin. Previously, SMIC has an 8-inch production line in Shenzhen, and the 12 inch plant planned earlier has finally ushered in new development.

In addition to SMIC Shenzhen, SMIC capital project has been launched. At the end of July last year, SMIC signed a cooperation framework agreement with the Management Committee of Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone, establishing a joint venture to engage in development and operation, focusing on the production of 28 nm and above integrated circuit projects. The first phase of the project is planned to invest 7.6 billion US dollars to achieve a 12 inch wafer production capacity of about 100000 pieces per month.

It is reported that by the end of 2021, Huahong Wuxi plant plans to speed up the construction to 65000 pieces / month, which will push the company into a period of rapid growth, and finally expand to 80000 pieces / month. It is estimated that the overall capital expenditure may reach US $4 billion (US $2.5 billion for the first 40000 pieces and US $1.5 billion for the last 40000 pieces), and the annual revenue of US $1 billion will be contributed after all the expansion.

It is worth noting that the supply and demand are still unbalanced after successive years of production expansion? Qiao an, a consultant analyst with trendforce, told the 21st century economic report: "in recent years, the expansion of production mainly occurred in 12 inch plants, especially in advanced manufacturing processes; The cost of new equipment purchased by 8-inch factories is high. Most of them rent or purchase second-hand machines, which can slightly expand production or improve production efficiency in the existing workshop space, and the expansion range is relatively limited. "

This means that the wafer foundry giant's previous expansion direction is more inclined to advanced process, but the lack of mature process capacity. In other words, the global demand for low-end chips is still increasing rapidly. Therefore, the expansion of the enterprises mainly focuses on the capacity of mature process. According to Zhao Haijun, the joint CEO of SMIC, SMIC's mature process will continue to have full capacity by the end of this year, and the new capacity will be mainly formed in the second half of this year.

At the beginning, Guangdong chip semiconductor started from the mature process and found a pragmatic product strategy. Now, it is working step by step.

Exploring the "third pole" in Dawan District

Li Haiming said that compared with foreign countries, China's chip industry started late, and there is a big gap. However, the chip industry is too large and sophisticated, so it is not realistic to make up for the shortcomings in many aspects such as talents, equipment, raw materials and technology in a short time.

Nowadays, under the background of international environment change, all regions and cities in China are increasing investment in IC industry. For Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay area, how to walk out of the road of differentiation and become the third pole outside the Yangtze River Delta, Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei is a long-term issue.

A chip investor told the 21st century economic reporter that the Yangtze River Delta has a deep accumulation in the semiconductor field, which is closely related to SMIC international and Huahong in Shanghai. It is the connection of manufacturing enterprises that makes the upstream and downstream of the semiconductor industry chain gather around Shanghai, forming a relatively complete industrial cluster.

Guangdong core semiconductor can also play a connecting role in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. It is reported that since its establishment, Yuexin semiconductor project has attracted 88 semiconductor enterprises from chip design, packaging testing, terminal application and other fields, covering the upstream and downstream industries of equipment and materials, to settle in the Huangpu Development Zone in Guangzhou, including 15 enterprises with a turnover of over 100 million yuan.

According to the 14th five year plan for the development of integrated circuit industry in Guangzhou Development Zone, the semiconductor industrial park in the knowledge city bay area will lay out wafer manufacturing, packaging and testing, equipment and materials manufacturing projects, while the R & D cluster area dominated by Guangzhou Science City will layout and design enterprise headquarters, R & D pilot scale test, public service platform, etc., to accelerate the design service, package test service, system test, etc Reliability analysis, EDA research and development and IP analysis technology research and development platform construction.

At the same time, the great potential energy possessed by Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao lies in market demand. In Li Haiming's opinion, the domestic chip industry has market advantages. Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay area can be said to be the largest chip consumption area in China and even in the world. China accounts for 60% of the world's chip usage, of which 60% is in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. From consumer electronics to industrial control, home appliances and equipment manufacturing, plus automotive electronics, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay area has formed a very comprehensive chip demand market. This is the fertile land for cultivating high growth gazelle enterprises.

It can be seen that the support of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay Area in policy is increasing. At the same time, based on a batch of new integrated circuit clusters such as Yuexin semiconductor, Dawan district is exploring the development path under the new normal.

According to the action plan of cultivating strategic emerging industry cluster of semiconductor and integrated circuit in Guangdong Province (2021-2025), Guangdong Province plans to break through 400 billion yuan of main business income by 2025, with an average annual growth of more than 20%, and significantly improve the industrial innovation ability.

At present, with major projects and major platforms as the starting point, Guangdong is speeding up the construction of "four beams and eight pillars" of the integrated circuit industry in Guangdong Province, creating the "four beams" in the supporting aspects of funds, platforms, universities and parks, and constructing the "eight pillars" from the professional fields of manufacturing, design, sealing and testing, materials, equipment, parts, tools and applications, Strive to build Guangdong into the "third pole" of IC in China.

 

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