Lin-gang outlines ambitious 2025 IC development goals

A panoramic view of Oriental IC Port in the Lin-gang Special Area. [Photo/lingang.gov.cn]

The Lin-gang Special Area – located in East China's Shanghai city – has unveiled a three-year action plan for accelerating the development of its integrated circuits or IC industry supply chain.

It aims to develop Oriental IC Port, an integrated circuits industrial base in Lin-gang, into an innovation highland for the sector with global influence and competitiveness by 2025.

Under the plan, Lin-gang has put forward basic principles for achieving and maintaining its leadership in the IC field. It provides guidance on its entire supply chain layout, innovation, openness and cooperation, as well as defines its development goals by 2025.

Moreover, the plan aims to expand the IC industry scale to more than 100 billion yuan ($14.83 billion).

With technological innovation, it plans to take key products with chip designs to the top level domestically and chip manufacturing technology to the forefront internationally.

Five leading chip manufacturers are expected to develop in the area, along with five equipment and materials enterprises with an annual income of more than 2 billion yuan each, more than 10 unicorn enterprises and more than 10 listed enterprises.

In order to achieve these objectives, Lin-gang has identified six main tasks.

It will carry out collaborative research, cultivate an innovation ecosystem and accelerate the promotion of core technology breakthroughs.

When accelerating the development of chip designs, it will focus on breakthroughs in a number of high-performance general-purpose computing chips such as CPUs and DPUs, as well as special chips for leading-edge industries.

To improve the level of chip manufacturing, it will support the construction of advanced process production lines and accelerate the verification and application of third-generation compound semiconductors products.

It will also support advanced packaging and testing equipment and explore new approaches in the computer chip trade.

"We firmly believe that the action plan will promote the development of the IC industry in the Lin-gang Special Area," said Wu Xiaohua, deputy-secretary of the Party working committee of the area.

"It will become a benchmark against Silicon Valley in the United States, Hsinchu in China's Taiwan region and Gyeonggi-do in South Korea – and become a mecca of IC innovation and development with global influence," Wu added.