World Zhejiang Business Network news on June 15th (Reporter CHEN Xiao): The ZTE incident has inflamed the consensus to accelerate the nation’s desire to own semiconductor core technologies from both the scientific and industrial fields.
Driven by the wheels of historical mission and opportunity, Hangzhou Lin’an wasted no time in announcing the formation of the Qingshan Lake Micro-Nano Smart Manufacturing Town on January 16th, 2018, with focuses on chip design, test and certification, key semiconductor equipment manufacturing, smart sensors and IoT applications.
On June 14th 2018, the Micro-Nano Town debuted in the 2018 Semiconductor Industry (Shanghai) Summit 2018 and Hangzhou Qingshan Lake Science and Technology Micro-Nano Manufacturing Collaboration & Investment Exchange Meeting, joining the conversation about the future of smart manufacturing with the nation’s elite semiconductor leaders.
Why is the small town preferred by the Silicon Valley returnee from the “National Thousand Talent Plan”?
As the world’s largest chip consumer, China’s ability to be self-sufficient is still low and relies heavily on imports. Furthermore, with the new round of smart manufacturing sweeping through the world, China’s demand for chips has become increasingly strong every day. The chip industry is in desperate need to innovate and expand.
We have to say, that the timing to form the Qingshan Lake Micro-Nano Smart Manufacturing Town cannot be better.
“With the bright future of the semiconductor and smart device industries, the development of the Micro-Nano Smart Manufacturing Town is promising. Shanghai, as the engine and leader of the Yangtze River Economic Delta, provides major support for ‘China Core’ as one of the nation’s most advanced area with the highest concentration of the nation’s IC companies, top talents and technology achievements.” Mayor LOU Anquan from Hangzhou Lin’an District stated. At the very opportunity for the up-surging development of the semiconductor industry, the Qingshan Lake Science and Technology city is best poised. Through the development of the Micro-Nano Smart Manufacturing Town, Hangzhou Lin’an will build the collaboration between Hangzhou and Shanghai, promote the industry resource and market integration and multiplicate the industry’s size and skills.
Included in the “Zhejiang New Generation AI Development Plan”, the Qingshan Lake Micro-Nano Smart Manufacturing Town is the result of the strategic cooperation between the Zhejiang Provincial Government and China Electronic Technology Group, Hangzhou Municipal Government and CEN Haikong Group, with a designated focus in IC key equipment manufacturing, Smart Sensors and Chip design, package testing and Smart sensor integrated applications.
According to the reporter, the town has attracted nearly 20 major national technology projects, such as 01 project of the CEN Haikang “Magnetic Rotary Memory R&D and Pilot Base”, and 02 project of Kaier Electronics “Lithographic Machine Liquid Immersion System R&D and Pilot Base”, etc.
In November 2017, Dr. GU, GM of the Hangzhou SIZONE Technology and as industry expert of the National Thousand Talents Program, led a R&D team from the Silicon Valley to develop the nation’s first 200mm CPM equipment to be deployed by well-known IC manufactures for massive production.
The project done by Dr. GU and his team is to manufacture the high-end IC equipment in China. It is at the very top of the IC equipment manufacturing chain, one of most important industries for the nation’s strategic development. The Hangzhou Municipal Government values Dr. GU and his team’s technical achievements and hopes to grow the team with financial investment from the private equity firms. In the Semiconductor Industry Summit (Shanghai), Dr. GU made the announcement of SIZONE Technology to officially join the Hangzhou Qingshan Lake Micro-Nano Smart Manufacturing Town with the “SIZONE CMP R&D and Industrialization” project.
“The choice to settle in the town is mainly because of the excellent industrial development environment and living conditions. As part of the city west technology and innovation corridor, not only the town has a good concentration of technical talents and the industry’s upstream and downstream companies, it is even more suitable for the returnees from the Silicon Valley who prefer to live and pioneer in a green environment. Since most of my team are from the Silicon Valley, I have to take this into consideration. At the same time, the local government has provided favorable policies and worked efficiently to sign the agreement in three weeks from the initial discussion, which is incomparable by many other places in the country.” Dr. GU told the reporter.
“China Core” will herald a golden development phrase in the next 10 years. The Qingshan Lake Science and Technology city, as an important part of the Hangzhou West science and technology corridor, is a new provincial-level technology base founded by the Zhejiang Provincial Parity Committee and the Provincial Government. According to the reporter, it has attracted the 46 innovative entities, such as Hong Kong University and Zhejiang University, 120 sizable enterprises and 55 national high-tech enterprises.
“In order to attract innovative talents and entrepreneurs, we continuously improve the policy systems. Every year, we allocate 450 million RMB to fund innovative projects, attract innovative talents and promote the transformation of technical achievements. We encourage well known companies and famous entrepreneurs to come, support world’s first-class enterprises, R&D organizations and Nobel Prize winners to establish regional headquarter, R&D centers and strategic scientific organizations in the Science and Innovation Grand Corridor. We will match up to 30 million RMB and no more than 30% of the project’s actual investment (excluding infrastructure) as financial support.” Stated by the Qingshan Lake city spokesperson to the reporter.
Furthermore, for those particularly important projects, the government can provide up to 100 million RMB in financial support. For projects that are in line with the leading industry directions, the industry related policy fund investment can be as high as 50% of the actual investment and can withdraw to give away the profit.
In addition, for qualified talents, the town will grant a subsidy of up to 600,000 yuan for housing purchases and a rental subsidy of up to 2,000 yuan per month for three consecutive years. In terms of talents, there are also “four 6-million” (6 million entrepreneurship start-up funds, 6 million share investment, 6 million government venture capital, 6 million loan interest subsidies) policy. After the expiration of the high-level talent support policy, according to the actual performance, an additional support of up to 20 million yuan will be provided in increments to those with high potentials.
At the conference, the National Smart Sensor Innovation Center, Center for MicroElectronics, Hangzhou University of Electronic Science and Technology, SIZONE CMP R&D and Industrialization Project, Radium Optoelectronic Laser Radar Source R&D and Industrialization Project, Melek Smart Sensor Technology R&D Base and other projects all have signed the contract to operate in the Qingshang Lake Micro-Nano Town. Qiye Semiconductor Alliance and Qingshan Lake Technology City Management Committee signed a cooperation agreement.
At the same time, the following experts have been invited to form a ThinkTank for Qingshan Lake Technology City’s development: Mr. YANG Hao, Chairman of the National Smart Sensor Innovation Center, Mr. ZHAO Jiankun, Vice President of the CETHiK Research Institute, Mr. CHEN Rongling, Chairman of the Board of Qive Semiconductors, IC Coffee Founder and Xinhui Investment Partner Mr. HU Yunwang, Mr. GU Haiyang, Chairman of Board of Hangzhou SIZONE Electronics Technology Co., Ltd..