Mo Dayang: Investment in basic industries should be strengthened

China's semiconductor industry needs to have a long-term strategic vision. Although memory, 28nm and 14nm process breakthroughs are all important, the rise of basic products will make it difficult for China's semiconductor industry to achieve its own controllable grand goal. There must be a two-pronged approach. The big fund should play an important role.

- Mo Taikang January 1, 2018

China's semiconductor industry is not the same matter, compared with the previous period, the feeling is 'too much money' and may not find a suitable investment project. Really too much money or missing items? The reason is very complicated, and I feel that the development of China's semiconductor industry is still in its infancy, reflecting the development of the industry is still not mature enough, really rational to think about, many of the money may really be unable to vote out. Suppose the market as demand, converted into production capacity, according to Such ideas to expand China's chip manufacturing capacity is not desirable.As we all know that investment is a 'double-edged sword', and then the big market is a global need to get through competition, and competition is the key elements of technology, human resources And capital, including industrial policies, the environment, etc. Most of the foundries in China's semiconductor manufacturing industry are using OEM, rather than IDM, is rational because the relative IDM model requires proprietary technology, coupled with product inventory to bear more risks of. Why China's semiconductor industry so difficult? Compared with other emerging industries such as photovoltaic, panel, LED, etc., China's semiconductor industry is particularly difficult, exactly where is it difficult? There are five major areas of understanding: Moore's Law every two years into a technology node, can not be followed On such a fast pace, high industrial base, all materials, including silicon, gas, reagents, stainless steel pipes, fittings, valves, mass flow meter, etc. need 9 '9' purity, is a fine industry, China is still lacking Such an industrial foundation, controlled by the Western 'Walsanna Treaty,' strongly hindered the progress of China's semiconductor industry, and the interference of non-market factors needed to strike some key projects from the standpoint of national security so that profitability was temporarily placed on the second Therefore, China's semi-conductive industry may be backward for the time being in all directions, and there is an urgent need to start from the basic materials and other aspects. The basic industries must rely on government investment According to the US SEMI data, the global semiconductor materials consume about 40 billion US dollars annually (semiconductor equipment sales are such an order of magnitude), so the global annual consumption of equipment and materials, totaling about 90 billion US dollars, relatively stable, with the silicon Of the increase in shipments of semiconductor materials can be divided into two types of front and rear materials, the front road, including silicon, masks, photoresists, photoresist supporting reagents, wet chemical reagents, gases, targets, CMP Materials and others, followed by leadframes, organic substrates, ceramic encapsulants, encapsulation resins, leads, die attach materials, and others.According to SEMI data, China accounted for 14% of all materials use, about 60% It is not only the issue of the amount of money, but the horrible thing is that if some materials can not be imported from Japan for two weeks, some chip production lines in China may stop working, while in Taiwan, China, they consume 22% of their materials, And South Korea accounted for 15%.

Note: The authors rework based on data from SEMI. In addition, four basic types of components, including plasma source generators, vacuum pumps, mass flow meters, and various stainless steel fittings and valves, are also required to be quickly addressed , Or China's semiconductor equipment industry to rise really very difficult.Observing the development of China's semiconductor industry may be to start from the investment in strengthening the basic industry projects, because these basic industries can not improve the level, just as rootless, let alone the industry To achieve self-control.As China wants to achieve industrialization, automation, information technology, the state must first invest in the development of roads, ports, railways, airports, power stations, etc .. In China's electronics industry, especially in the semiconductor industry, to solve Such as silicon, gas, photoresists, leadframes, organic substrates, leads, etc. should be as important as national road construction, ports, airports, etc. So investments in such basic items must first be country-based, In addition to the semiconductor industry, some are still used in aerospace, medical, biological, fine industry, etc. Only the base Therefore, it is a benefit for future generations.It is very difficult to invest in basic industries at this stage, because these projects are universal and non-semiconductor-specific, so the project will look However, the quality of the products is very high and their price competition is fierce, so their performance may not be as prominent as the memory and the 28nm process, so the development of China's semiconductor industry should In the long-term strategic perspective, despite technological breakthroughs such as memory, 28nm and 14nm, it is very important to break through the basics, but it is also very difficult for China's semiconductor industry to achieve the grand goal of autonomous control. Therefore, it is necessary to have a two-pronged approach It is time for the fund to play an important role.