Industry leaders call for global cooperation in integrated circuits

HEFEI - Global industry leaders are calling for more cooperation in the integrated circuits industry at the just-concluded World Conference on Integrated Circuits 2022 in Hefei, the capital of East China's Anhui province.

Under the theme of "cooperation for win-win," the conference, from Nov 16 to 18, aimed at advancing global cooperation and exchanges in integrated circuits (IC), industrial and supply chains, exhibiting the latest achievements in IC, and promoting the development and innovation of China's IC industry.

Nearly 200 guests from over 20 countries and regions, including the United States, Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, attended the conference either on the site or via video link.

"Over the past few years, our industry has faced many challenges, from the global pandemic to the widespread shortage of semiconductors. However, the semiconductor industry has also experienced significant growth," said Cristiano Amon, the 2022 Chair of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) of the United States, at the conference's opening ceremony via video.

"I firmly believe the outlook for semiconductor technology has never been brighter. One of the key reasons for this optimism is that semiconductors are essential to the digital transformation that will be accelerating across industries over the next decade," added Amon, who is also the president and CEO of Qualcomm.

From cell phones to computers and even automobiles, integrated circuits are an important part of these products that are widely used in people's daily life.

The sales revenue of China's integrated circuits reached 476.35 billion yuan ($67 billion) in the first half of 2022, up by 16.1 percent year-on-year, according to the China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA).

"Over the past 10 years, China's worldwide semiconductor market share has nearly doubled from 4 to 7 percent. Another data point -- China is the world's largest consumer of electronics and the largest market for the world's chip makers," said John Neuffer, President and CEO of SIA.

China has made significant strides in moving up the value chain in the global semiconductor industry. Chinese semiconductor companies are becoming more innovative and deepening their participation in global value chains. Global industry cooperation has been essential to building the complex and sophisticated semiconductor ecosystem, and this level of global industry cooperation is more important than ever, given the unique and formidable challenges facing our industry, Neuffer said via video at a summit forum during the conference.

One major characteristic of the integrated circuits industry is that it has a very long industrial chain and involves a wide range of aspects. Therefore, it is unrealistic for any enterprise or any country to cover the whole industrial chain, said Shen Lei, vice general director of IC design branch of CSIA.

"Only through win-win cooperation can we make use of each other's advantages, learn from each other's strengths, and achieve common growth through fair competition," added Shen.

A wide range of events were organized during the three-day conference, including 14 forums and the 20th China International Semiconductor Expo, chip designing and testing contests, business matchmaking events, and more.