1. British media: China's development of electromagnetic gun British semiconductor company to help;
According to the micro-network news, the Chinese official confirmed that the new type of weapon cannon was tested successfully. The outside world has asked where the gun technology came from. With British media analysis, the Chinese gun technology may originate from a British electronics company.
According to "East Network" report, 10 years ago in the global financial crisis, China CRRC Group acquired a 75% stake in British electronics company Dynex for 8 million pounds to acquire the capability to produce semiconductor chips, including insulated gate bipolar chips (Insulated Gate Bipolar). Transistor, IGBT) The most important, this kind of chip is regarded as the "key component" of the electromagnetic gun.
When the Chinese company acquired Dynex, the British side did not realize that it would cause national security problems. However, Dynex semiconductor technology eventually helped China break through the technical obstacles and developed a "super gun" with a speed of 5400 miles per hour.
Not long ago, CRRC Zhuzhou issued information that the company’s IGBT module products of CRRC Times Electric recently beat international competitors and once again received Indian orders. This is the largest order for electric IGBTs obtained abroad in the era of CRRC. It also means that China's independent research and development of IGBT products in the overseas market is operating sound and gradually recognized by the international market.
In February of this year, the parent company Dynex Semiconductor in China is planning to establish a semiconductor R&D center in the UK. The center will employ up to 200 engineers in the next three years and will be Dynex, two British subsidiaries of China’s Zhuzhou CRRC And Soil Machine Dynamics provides additional research capabilities.
The media earlier reported that China Railway Group spent 167 million pounds to establish a semiconductor production base in Zhuzhou, which has a production value of 230 million pounds per year.
2. The bitter continent 'Wind and Gathering': Relying on the miner's annual revenue of 10 billion yuan;
Reporter Chen Jiayu Li Zhe Beijing Report
Hot Bitcoins have earned manufacturers of related equipment money.
Beijing Bitcontinent Technology Co., Ltd. (hereafter referred to as 'Bitland') is a start-up company whose main business is the sale of ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) mining machines to 'mines' around the world. Recently, according to investment bank Bernstein (Bernstein) Analysts estimate that Bitland is becoming a leader in Bitcoin's mining industry. Bitcoin United CEO JACK Group revealed that the company's 2017 revenue is about 2.5 billion US dollars.
In addition to bitcoin mining machines, Bitland also produces Litecoin mining machines and Dasco mining machines. These mining machines are all named after the ant mining machine. A miner retailer told the China Business News reporter that the above ants Compared with other miners in the market, the miner has good quality, stable operation, low energy consumption, and high cost performance. However, Bit Continental did not disclose relevant business conditions to reporters. As of this writing, the company has not responded to reporters' interviews. .
Mining machine 'Water goes up'
On March 9, according to Bitfinex quotes on Bitcoin trading platform, bitcoin prices fell below 9000 US dollars, refreshing the lows since February 13 this year.
In the past 2017, the price of Bitcoin-led cryptocurrencies soared (Bitcoin increased from US$1,000 in early 2017 to US$19,000), and the price of mining machines used for 'mining' has also risen. The demand for the number of miners is also increasing.
The crypto-currency mining machine can be simply understood as a computer used to earn Bitcoin, Litecoin. Unlike ordinary computers, it uses specialized, custom mining chips, which consumes relatively large amounts of electricity and are relatively inexpensive. Video card mining machine is also more expensive.
The world’s largest Bitcoin mining machine manufacturer is Bitland. The company can sell 100,000 mining machines each year, and has more than 70% market share of bitcoin mining machines. In addition, the company also provides mining pools and provides for miners. Trading, hosting and other cloud computing services. Many people in the industry believe that these businesses are Bitcoin's profitable dairy cows.
In an exclusive interview with BusinessWeek recently, the JACK delegation disclosed that Bitland’s 2017 revenue is approximately US$2.5 billion (approximately RMB 15.8 billion). From a revenue perspective, it has surpassed Spreadtrum to become second only to Huawei. Think of China's second largest IC design company.
Since its inception in 2013, Bit Continental’s revenue has increased to 2.5 billion U.S. dollars in just a few short years, which is related to the soaring prices of Bitcoin.
It is reported that the gross profit of the AICS miner products sold on Bit Continental is considerable. A marketing director of an upstream semiconductor manufacturer revealed to reporters: 'The gross profit of selling an AICS miner product is quite high, and the product gross profit is at least 50%, but this Gross profit is also linked to the value of the currency. When the currency value is high, the mine will have a strong willingness to purchase the miner, which is often in short supply, and the price of the miner will rise.
An excavation worker told reporters that the price of a bit-continental ant mining machine S9 was normally priced at more than 10,000 yuan. When the market was hottest, it could sell 30,000 yuan, but the cost of the mining machine was also five or six thousand. Money, the profit is very impressive.
Can windfall continue?
According to Lin Jianhong, manager of Tuoba Industry Research Institute, a state-owned enterprise in Jianbang Consulting, for traditional chip and video card manufacturers, consumer products such as mobile phones and computers have their own replacements, and new products will be profitable each year when they are put into the market. The limited supply of digital currency such as currency, the fluctuation of the currency price affects the price and demand of the mining machine, and no one can predict when this wave of digital currency heat will last.
The 'mining competition' is focused on the calculations, how many mining machines are on hand, and often the old machines have not yet been eliminated. The new ones come in again, allowing the overall volume of operations to go upwards. When the prices are high, the miners will substantially expand production, and encryption Currency market price volatility is large, risky, and unpredictable, which also causes the frequency of replacement to be uncertain. ' Lin Jianhong said, 'Using the proprietary ASIC's miner's computing power compared to the use of GPU system mining machine It is harder to be directly used for other computing purposes. If the market for virtual currency becomes colder, it will have a more significant negative impact on the products of such manufacturers.'
Lin Jianhong told reporters that compared to Invidia, AMD, a traditional IC semiconductor company, Bitland is not only an equipment manufacturer, but also owns mines, engages in 'mining', and charges fees for the miner's trading platform, but this revolves around numbers. Enterprises with cryptocurrency as the center also have the risk of a single business structure.
At the same time, Bernstein’s analysts also pointed out that Bitland’s revenue cannot guarantee long-term growth, especially at present when the market value of cryptocurrencies is not stable, and the cryptocurrencies have recently been closely monitored by regulatory authorities around the world.
In fact, in the second half of 2017, virtual currencies continued to skyrocket, excessive speculative funds flowed into exchanges, currency circles hacked into piracy, money laundering, foreign exchange supervision and arbitrage, and other market speculation problems were frequently exposed. Some countries began to avoid cryptocurrencies. Farther away, it is strongly banned, while other countries still strongly support it.
At present, domestic cryptocurrencies have also been strengthened. However, considering that Bitcoin's difficulty in mining has an automatic adjustment mechanism, moderate power restrictions on domestic mining pools will not affect the roots of Bitcoin. They originally gathered in Inner Mongolia, Sichuan, and Guizhou. The domestic mines gradually shifted overseas. Xue Hongyan, director of the Internet Finance Center at Suning Financial Research Institute, said that even if domestic mining activities are completely banned, it will only have an impact in the short term, and the difficulty of mining will automatically decrease. As the revenue increases, the mining pool in the country will accelerate to overseas.
'The upgrading of technical equipment will have an easier impact on mining companies.' Xue Hongyan reminded that once other companies can produce faster mining machines, it is a disruptive influence for other companies.
The above-mentioned excavation operators told reporters that the mining equipment manufacturers belong to the upstream manufacturers and belong to the eco-chain ecological chain. After the policy is supervised, the cryptocurrency market prices will be cooled. The fluctuation of the bitcoin price is directly reflected in the return on investment of the mining machinery. On the China Business News
3. Chongqing Wanguo Semiconductor expects to produce 50,000 chips per month in trial production in March;
Recently, it was reported from Chongqing’s Liangjiang New District that Chongqing Wanguo Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd. located in the district is expected to start trial production in March this year. After the project is fully in production, it can produce 50,000 chips per month, and package testing 1.25 billion semiconductor chips. The annual output value will reach 1 billion US dollars.
In September 2015, the Administrative Committee of Liangjiang New Area and the International Technology Co., Ltd. (AOS) signed the "12-inch power semiconductor chip manufacturing and packaging test production base project investment agreement", at the same time, AOS and Chongqing strategic fund, the two rivers strategy The fund reached a joint venture agreement and on April 22, 2016, Chongqing Wanguo Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Chongqing Wanguo) was established with a registered capital of US$330 million. The project is located in the water and soil industrial development zone of Chongqing Liangjiang New District with a total investment of US$1 billion. Covering an area of about 220,000 square meters, it has production, sales, chip design, wafer manufacturing, packaging and testing capabilities of the entire industry chain and will be constructed in two phases. Among them, the first phase of the project will be invested about 500 million U.S. dollars, and is expected to produce 20,000 yuan per month. Chips, packaging and testing of 500 million chips; second phase of investment of about 500 million US dollars, is expected to produce 50,000 chips per month, packaging and testing 1.25 billion semiconductor chips.
The person in charge of Chongqing Wanguo introduced that, at present, the project plant has already completed the capping and is undergoing electromechanical installation. It is expected that the assembly and testing plant will start trial production in March this year; in the third quarter of this year, the fab will begin trial production; by the end of the year, all The project will be fully completed and production will start.
The Chongqing Wanguo Project will help Chongqing to build a national key integrated circuit industrial base and promote Chongqing's electronic information industry from notebooks, computer bases to the 'core screen core' intelligent terminal's industrial chain layout.
Founded in September 2000, AOS is headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, USA. The company is the first high-tech company in the world to research, develop and produce power semiconductors. It integrates semiconductor design, wafer fabrication, and packaging and testing. It is mainly engaged in power. Product design and manufacture of semiconductor devices, products related to notebook computers, LCD TVs, smart phones, home appliances, communications equipment, industrial control, lighting applications, automotive electronics and other fields, with a turnover of nearly 400 million US dollars in 2017. China Electronics News
4. Haishu District and Xiamen University will jointly cultivate IC industry talents;
On March 7, the Standing Committee of the Xiamen Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of the Haishu District Party Committee Lin Wensheng came to the school to communicate with the University of Haishu District to cultivate talents in the IC industry. Zhang Yan, Party Secretary of the school, and Vice President Ye Shiman attended the forum.
At the symposium, Haishu District first introduced the development plan of the Xiamen integrated circuit industry, and focused on the development of Haiyan IC's industrial development policy. Subsequently, the participants focused on how to strengthen the joint training of professional personnel in the school campus and enterprise integrated circuit industry. In-depth discussion of exchanges.
Lin Wensheng said that higher education and industrial development are inextricably linked and support each other. The development of the university is the foundation of the competitiveness of local industries. The development of local industries in turn promotes the reform and innovation of personnel training in colleges and universities. Under the background of industrial restructuring, the sea沧 The demand for talent in the integrated circuit industry is strong and specific. Xiamen University has a foundation, characteristics, and advantages in personnel training. It is hoped that the school will strengthen liaison with Haishu District and related companies, and gradually establish a joint training mechanism for professionals. Bigger and stronger Xiamen City IC industry.
Ye Shiman said that the IC industry planning in Haishu District has a high starting point and the development trend is encouraging. The demand of Haishu District for the IC industry talents has set new requirements for the reform of Xiamen University's deepening personnel training model. In the future, the school will take the initiative as , Continue to deepen cooperation with school campuses and enterprises in Haishu District to implement this work, and jointly promote the development of Haishu IC industry.
It is reported that Xiamen City cultivates the integrated circuit industry as a new pillar industry. Haishu District regards the integrated circuit industry as one of the 'three carriages' that drive economic growth. To this end, Haishu District has issued the “Haileng District Support and Integration”. “Circuit Industry Development Measures” and “Interim Measures for the Introduction and Cultivation of Integrated Circuit Industry Talents in Haishu District”, through integrated circuit industry carrier and support, public technology platform construction, R&D support, investment and financing, taxation, talents, life support and other aspects , To create a policy environment suitable for the development of Haishu IC industry, and to promote the integrated circuit industry into the fast lane of development. Xiamen University
5.CFIUS ruling may harm semiconductor industry
Author: SEMI public policy manager Jay Chittooran
Promoting technological innovation, productivity, and widespread growth of foreign investment are critical to the long-term success of the semiconductor industry. However, due to the increasingly stringent review of the industry by the US Foreign Investment Commission (CFIUS), billions of dollars of investment are facing Narrow risk.
In the past two years, CFIUS was originally responsible for reviewing the sales and ownership transfer of U.S. companies to foreign entities by a government agency. For reasons of national security, CFIUS declined to sell Aixtron and Lattice Semiconductor to Chinese investors. Recently, CFIUS rejected the sale of Xcerra to a Chinese company. According to reports, the committee participated in the Broadcom acquisition of Qualcomm.
As recently emphasized, Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Robert Pittenger (R-NC) launched the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA) in November to reform CFIUS for more than a decade. Forms and Functions. In the spirit of effective governance that is more in line with global trends, we welcome efforts to ensure that CFIUS better balances global business and national security.
FIRRMA contains important reform measures to increase the efficiency of CFIUS and help alleviate its rising workload, including putting much-needed resources into the committee. These reform measures include the compilation of regulations to ensure that the installation of each CFIUS organization is confirmed by the Senate. The person directly responsible for the investment review.
However, it is worth noting that FIRRMA failed to adequately address several problems with CFIUS, and in some cases it also created new problems.
First, the bill greatly expands CFIUS's powers, including allowing it to review any non-passive investments of foreign investors in US key technology or critical infrastructure companies, even if investors do not have control over the company. By defining the enterprise as a key technology Or a critical infrastructure company, FIRRMA will review the business, not review the transaction. This means that transactions involving key technology companies that are not key technologies will be subject to unnecessary, time-consuming and costly CFIUS review.
Secondly, FIRRMA will ask the committee to review joint ventures or any other common agreement that shares intellectual property rights with non-US partners. Therefore, CFIUS is responsible for reviewing foreign international business activities for the first time in history. We think this is a serious flaw in the bill. It will only repeat the existing U.S. export control system while adding another layer of regulatory burden.
Third, FIRRMA will create different tracks for CFIUS review based on the source of the investor. Countries that receive special attention such as China or Russia will be subject to enhanced scrutiny, while other countries that have similar institutions with CFIUS or have a defense treaty with the United States will Completely free from CFIUS review. This inherent prejudice seems to challenge the core principle of U.S. investment policy - non-discrimination.
Finally, FIRRMA has established regulations for expanding consultations and information sharing with allies. Even if it is unintentional, these regulations may lead to the leakage of unnecessary proprietary information and technology.
In the past year, we have paid more attention to strengthening foreign trade and protecting American industry. FIRRMA is just right for this area. However, rather than creating a wide range of economic obstacles, a better way is to set a higher fence on the selection project. This will help maintain current investment trends that are critical to the semiconductor industry and the overall economy, while also protecting national security.
SEMI will continue its efforts to open up new markets while reducing the regulatory burden that may inhibit cross-border trade and commerce. In addition, SEMI will continue to influence policymakers in the development of semiconductors and emerging technologies that are crucial to trade and investment accessibility. SEMI