After acknowledging the importance of independent innovation in science and technology, China's semiconductor industry is bound to undergo major changes. One of the major features is that funds are gathering further, but relying on intensive capital to achieve technological breakthroughs has major uncertainties.
According to reports from a number of domestic and foreign media, the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund (hereinafter referred to as the “Big Fund”) has announced a new fund with a scale of approximately 300 billion yuan (US$47.4 billion). It is expected that the fund will have a larger proportion of the amount of funds invested. Chip design and other links. At the same time, under the auspices of major funds, a few days ago, SMIC’s IC company also announced the establishment of a semi-conductor industry fund with a large fund, Shanghai Yuxin Semiconductor Co., Ltd., and a total scale of 1.616 billion yuan.
At present, many people think that the huge volume of China's economy is the last word. As long as China invests huge sums of money at all costs, it will be able to achieve independent innovation in science and technology so as to master the core technologies and change the status of China's 'mindlessness'.
In response to this, the professor of economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the chief economist of Tianfeng Securities, Liu Yuhui, believe that there is a huge inertia in China's existing system. It can be expected that local governments will set up a lot of semiconductor industry funds in the future, and they will invest huge sums of money. To promote the development of the semiconductor industry. However, it is disturbing that such a huge investment, the corresponding is likely to be a huge excess capacity in the low-end semiconductor.
'Acquiring core technologies through intensive capital research to obtain core technologies is a huge risk. Because the entire information industry has developed to this day, it has entered the time window of the physical limits of Moore's Law.' He said.
It is understood that Moore's Law states that every 18-24 months, the number of components that can be accommodated on a unit's integrated circuit will increase by a factor of 2, and the performance will also double. In the information revolution, this trend has continued 20 for many years.
The level of R&D of integrated circuit devices has grown from 130 nm to 7 nm. The next challenge for R&D is how to break through to 5 nanometers. However, the economic cost per 1 nanometer advancement is exponentially rising. Such a huge cost is generally The commercial capital cannot be afforded, but can only be promoted by the state capital. However, as Moore's Law enters the time window that is about to expire, the promotion of state capital faces huge uncertainties.
It is understood that at present, the R&D level of China's equipment manufacturers is 14 nm, and the production level is at the 28-nm stage.
Liu Yuhui stated that in 5 to 10 years, China's integrated circuit R&D level may exceed 7 nanometers to reach the current international level. However, even if R&D is successful, domestic companies still need to go through a bloody price war, from TSMC, Samsung, Hynix, etc. Internationally renowned companies grab market share.
'The bigger risk is that with the advent of the time window for semiconductor physics, its basic scientific research is facing a turn, and this is exactly what the United States dominates.' He said. Will semiconductor research shift from electrons to quantum? If basic scientific research achieves breakthroughs and humans find more effective ways of data storage and dissemination, then China’s trillions of dollars in fixed assets that have broken into the direction of electronics could turn into a pile of scrap metal overnight. .
China has achieved remarkable achievements in the industrial field. However, these achievements have been obtained more because China’s economy has a large volume and cannot represent that China’s industrial technology has already possessed its core competitiveness.
'From an investment point of view, the problems that can be solved with money are not problems. The problems that can be solved with intensive capital are also not the issues that China needs to pay attention to at present. ' Liu Yuhui suggested that China wants to truly realize technological innovation, and it needs Relying on institutional changes to improve soft power, such as freer education, independent pioneering spirit, perfect capital market, a high degree of legal economy, and a contractual spirit, require the unremitting efforts of several generations of Chinese people.
2. South Korea plans to invest 13 billion yuan in artificial intelligence technology in the next five years
According to the Yonhap News Agency, South Korea's ICT sector said on Tuesday that South Korea will invest 2.2 trillion won (about 13 billion yuan) in the development of core artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the next five years to become a global giant in this field by 2022. .
According to the plan announced by the Ministry of Science and Information and Communications, the Korean government will take the lead in the development of a national artificial intelligence program including R&D to join the ranks of the world's most powerful countries.
Chang Byung-gyu, chairman of the Korean Industrial Revolution presidential committee, said: 'The government believes that by joining hands with private companies, acquiring core technologies in artificial intelligence will not only meet global standards, but will eventually cultivate talent and produce high-quality work. Our goal is to reach the top four globally by 2022. '
The South Korean government stated that its goal is to independently develop technologies comparable to its counterparts under the leadership of the United States and China, and ultimately reduce their reliance on them.
South Korean officials said that the department will take the lead in carrying out large-scale artificial intelligence projects in the fields of national defense, medicine, and security. The government will conduct detailed studies in the first half of this year to decide whether to start a one-trillion won won artificial intelligence chip R&D project.
The department said that artificial intelligence based processors have great potential for application in various deep learning technologies, such as neural network computing.
The department will further allocate budgets for the development and research of brain sciences. Brain science is considered the basis for the next generation of artificial intelligence technologies including machine learning and neural networks.
The South Korean government stated that it also realizes that it needs to cooperate with start-up companies and companies in this field to research cutting-edge technologies.
The department said that the global artificial intelligence market is expected to reach 52.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, up from 7.81 billion U.S. dollars in 2016. TechWeb
3. Tianjin set up a new generation artificial intelligence industry fund with a scale of 100 billion yuan
On May 16th, at the 2nd World Smart Conference co-sponsored by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State Cyber Information Office, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the China Association for Science and Technology, and the Tianjin Municipal Government, Tianjin released the “About accelerating "Several Policies for the Development of Intelligent Technology Industry", the policy shows that the new generation of artificial intelligence technology industry fund in Tianjin will reach 100 billion yuan.
It is reported that a new generation of artificial intelligence technology industry funds will be led by Tianjin Financial Bureau, Tianjin Finance Bureau, and Tianjin Municipal Industry and Information Technology Commission. Haihe Industrial Fund Management Corporation will be recruited through marketization to attract domestic and foreign financial institutions, enterprises and other communities. Capital initiated the establishment of a new generation of artificial intelligence technology industry fund, and then through the establishment of sub-funds, etc., to further enlarge the fund's functions, to achieve a total fund group size of 100 billion yuan.
In the investment field, the new generation of artificial intelligence technology industry funds will focus on smart robots, smart hardware and software, smart sensors, virtual reality and augmented reality, smart cars and other smart technology emerging industries. Among them, in order to highlight smart manufacturing, intelligent terminal products and traditions The transformation of industrial intelligence will occupy a core position in the development of intelligent technology industry. A sub-fund group with a total size of 30 billion yuan will be set up to invest in intelligent manufacturing terminal products, and the traditional industry will be intelligently transformed.
4. Unexpected! Malaysia is China's second largest source of imported ICs
Malaysia is China's second largest source of imported ICs. In 2017, China imported 114 million U.S. dollars of integrated circuits from the 'One Belt and One Road' country. Major importing countries were South Korea and Malaysia. The top five import countries accounted for more than 95 of the total imports. %. Under the background of the current trade war between the United States and its allies to tighten the import of Chinese chips and integrated circuits, the cooperation between China and Malaysia has become increasingly important.
China's Top 5 Source Countries in the 'Belt and Road' National IC Accounted for the Top 5 Source Countries Compared to China's 'One Belt and One Road' IC (Note: 8422 items in the figure refer to integrated circuits)
5. The world's top five tech giants compete to enter the game, blockchain is becoming the next battlefield
On Tuesday, Amazon’s cloud computing division announced its cooperation with blockchain startup Kaleido, hoping to make it easier for AWS service customers to use blockchain technology.
It is understood that Kaleido is a newly established startup company, which is incubated by Consensys, an American Ethereum startup and incubator. Kaleido can provide Amazon AWS customers with a simple button to build services on blockchain technology. .
Amazon said in a statement that this is the first blockchain SaaS solution on AWS Marketplace that will help AWS customers quickly advance the blockchain project.
Due to the relationship between Consensys and Ethereum, this collaboration has also led speculation as to whether Amazon will be in Ethereum. In response, Amazon’s AWS executives responded that AWS has been paying close attention to Ethereum, “because it is something that many of our customers continue to explore.” Especially in corporate use cases."
According to Joseph Lubin, CEO of Consensys, the company manages more than 50 blockchain projects and will provide a lot of support for Amazon's subsequent blockchain layout.
According to Lei Feng network AI financial commentary, Amazon's layout in the blockchain can be described as frequent in recent years, especially in April of this year:
In October of last year, Amazon’s subsidiaries successively registered three new blockchain-related domain names: Amazon cryptocurrency, Amazon Ethereum, etc. In April of this year, Amazon’s two technologies were licensed by the US Patent and Trademark Office, claiming two items. The patent is based on blockchain technology to provide more convenient and quick payment systems for suppliers and consumers. Prior to this, Amazon also obtained a patent for a streaming data platform that allows subscribers to receive real-time encrypted currency transaction data. Just last week. Amazon AWS officially released the AWS blockchain module, which will make it easier for developers to create projects based on Ethereum and the Linux Foundation Hyperledger Fabric, allowing AWS to work with IBM in the BaaS (blockchain as a service) market. Oracle launched a competition. In addition to the Amazon, the "big four" of the world's five largest tech giants - Apple, Google, Microsoft and facebook have also discontinued, entering the blockchain competition base.
apple
As far as Apple is concerned, as of now, its disclosed blockchain-related actions are not too many:
In December 2017, Apple created a system to verify the timestamp using blockchain technology and filed an application for the patent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
In April of this year, foreign media Coinspeaker stated that Apple is introducing Ripple's Interledger API protocol for Apple Pay. Apple Pay can complete the integration of this protocol on its proprietary browsers Safari OS 11.1 and iOS 11.3. This also allows It is speculated that Apple may use Ripple's Interledger technology.
Compared to Apple, Google's layout in the blockchain can be analyzed from the aspects of acquisition/investment and R&D.
First, in terms of acquisitions/investments, Google Ventures, its parent company, Alphabet, has been involved in many blockchain projects and company investments in recent years, including the $4 million in the wallet service provider Blockchain Luxembourg in June last year. Investment, and financial trading network Ripple, cryptocurrency asset management platform LedgerX, international payment provider Veem and now disbanded Buttercoin.
In technology research and development, in March this year, foreign media company Bloomberg reported that Google is studying technology related to blockchain to support its own cloud business and ensure the security of data storage. At the same time, sources also stated that the company is developing. Your own distributed electronic books to support third-party publishing and verification transactions.
Microsoft
In the Big Five, Microsoft has the deepest layout in the blockchain.
For instance, as reported by Lei Feng Network AI Financial Review, as early as November 2015, Microsoft launched the "Azure Blockchain as a Service (BaaS)" program. The plan will introduce blockchain technology into Azure and use Azure Cloud Services. Financial industry customers provide BaaS services and gradually establish cooperation with many Ethereum-related companies.
In July 2016, the Azure platform released its first blockchain solution to provide end-users with distributed ledger technology.
In October of the same year, Microsoft Azure announced that it will bring NXT blockchain nodes to the platform, allowing developers to easily develop NXT (future currency) nodes.
In May 2017, Microsoft released a new framework to accelerate blockchain deployment via PoC on the Azure cloud platform.
In August of the same year, Microsoft launched the Coco framework on Azure Cloud to help banks, insurance companies, and manufacturers, etc., establish a shared digital ledger and automate smart contracts with Taifang and others.
Last November, Nivaura, a British financial technology company, used blockchain technology to distribute its first automated bond with the help of Microsoft Azure. Later, the company created the first blockchain investment product.
In February of this year, Microsoft released a smart contract technology white paper, announcing that the next step in the BaaS strategy will be introducing Enterprise Smart Contracts (ESC). At the same time, the company announced in its official blog that it will be in its Microsoft Authenticator application. Integrated blockchain-based decentralized ID verification technology.
Overall, Microsoft's layout in the blockchain is inseparable from the support and participation of the Azure cloud platform. It is more about the combination of blockchain and cloud computing and big data.
Compared with the above four, Facebook's action on the blockchain is more high-profile due to its CEO Zuckerberg's relationship.
Earlier this year, Zuckerberg published 2018 personal challenges on his personal home page. Among them, "I am very interested in studying encryption technology and digital currency in depth." He also said that he wants to apply the de-centering technology to Facebook. in service.
Shortly afterwards, Facebook officially announced that it was forbidden to place cryptocurrencies, ICO, and other related advertisements on the platform, clearly expressing its position in the blockchain.
And just recently, Facebook announced a heavy plan to adjust its executive structure and set up a new blockchain department, which was led by David Marcus, former Messenger team manager. Sources said that the company is planning to launch Their own cryptocurrency. This can not be caused by the imagination.
6. Hefei Promulgates "Several Policies on Further Supporting Talents to Innovate and Entrepreneurship"
According to the micro-network news, last month Hefei officially promulgated “Several Policies on Further Supporting Talents to Innovate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship”. Over the next seven years, it will provide more than one billion yuan in funds, from the introduction of talents, the cultivation of talents, the establishment of entrepreneurial support, etc. In response to the introduction of multiple preferential policies to further create a good 'career' environment, attracting all kinds of talent in the fertilizer innovation and entrepreneurship.
Keywords: urgent need shortage
According to this policy, Hefei City will focus on the talent needs of strategic emerging industries, dominant industries, modern service industries and modern agriculture and other key industries, as well as education, culture, health and other public service fields, and regularly publish talent directories for the world. Introduce urgently needed talents for Ph.D. who work for a fertilizer company and meets the talent list, full-time master's degree, and 'double-class' college graduates and other urgently needed talents. Hefei City provides 3,000 yuan and 2,000 yuan each month within three years. subsidy.
At the same time, third-party agencies are encouraged to meet the needs of the industry and urban development, and help enterprises to introduce urgently needed talents. After each successful introduction and signing of a labor contract of more than three years, after one year of work, one person will be rewarded with 10,000 yuan for each introduction.
Keywords: Grassroots growth
In the future, Hefei City will adhere to the combination of service grassroots and personnel training, market leadership and government promotion, and will focus on cultivating young talents at the grassroots level to create a high-quality grassroots talent team to serve the city’s development.
In addition, Hefei City will regularly publish the salary guidance price for college graduates, encourage college graduates to innovate and start businesses in various parks, and develop into first-line enterprises. Graduates from colleges and townships who work in street towns, villages, etc. It is lower than the average salary standard of employees in the city in the previous year. In addition, Hefei City will actively adopt the government to purchase services, and provide more than 3,000 primary social service posts annually.
Keywords: Broadening ability
Hefei encourages people from all walks of life to provide internships and traineeships for undergraduates, provide jobs and places for the traineeship, and provide more than 50,000 internships and apprenticeships each year. Using the Sunshine Employment Service Platform to provide graduates with a convenient opportunity for internships Give a basic living allowance for trainees for 3 to 12 months. For the trainee base with a high employment rate at the internship period, a one-time reward of 1,000 yuan per person for the trainee base will be granted based on the number of people admitted.
Keywords: home security
Hefei City insists on government-led, urban linkages, social participation, resource sharing, multi-subject supply, multi-channel guarantees, and the simultaneous hiring and purchase of housing systems to speed up the construction of talented apartments (lease-of-rent housing). Relaxation of talent settlement policy, where voluntary to come Welfare colleges and universities (higher vocational colleges) Fresh graduates, returned overseas students, post-graduate education or above, bachelor's degree below 40 years of age, intermediate and above professional technicians, senior workers (national vocational qualification level 3) and above High-skilled talents can be settled first. These talents are innovative and entrepreneurial in Hefei, and they can purchase the first suite after they settle down.
For the newly-arrived Ph.D. who has no own housing in Fei, a master's degree below the age of 35, graduates of full-time undergraduates and junior colleges, graduates of higher vocational colleges within 3 years, Hefei City will pay 20,000 yuan per person per year for 3 years. The standard of 1.5 million yuan and 0.6 million yuan is used to grant rental subsidies (excluding party and government agencies, state-owned enterprises and public institutions).
Keywords: Venture Capital
In the future, Hefei will continue to increase its financial input, fully implement the policy of secured loans for business start-ups and tax and fee reduction policies, and encourage social capital such as angel funds, venture capital and venture capital funds to support college students in various ways and expand their diversified financial support. Channels, providing financial support for entrepreneurship of various groups.
Graduates who have established small and micro enterprises for the first time and have normal operations for more than 6 months can enjoy a one-off entrepreneurial subsidy of 10,000 yuan. At the same time, colleges and universities set up entrepreneurship and innovation guidance funds to provide free assets for college students starting or within five years of graduation. Mortgage financing supports up to 100,000 yuan for interest-free loans. The maximum loan period does not exceed 2 years. A comprehensive evaluation of college entrepreneurial enterprises within five years of graduating from school and graduates is conducted. Each year, about 100 outstanding college students are chosen to start a business team. Give 100,000 yuan project funding.
Keywords: entrepreneurial platform
Hefei City will encourage all sectors of the society to integrate resources, build various types of business startup platforms, promote old commercial facilities, storage facilities, idle buildings, transfer surplus commercial properties to start-up incubation bases, and guide all types of talents to enter innovation and entrepreneurship. Counties (cities) The development zone is located in an area with suitable geographical location, commercial environment and traffic conditions, and is building innovative districts, pioneering zones, and creating space, providing low-cost or free-starting jobs for undergraduates who are in school or graduated within five years.
Keywords: entrepreneurial services
In the future, Hefei will support and guide social forces to participate in entrepreneurship and employment services, and encourage multiple modes to build a 'one-stop service center for employment and entrepreneurship'. The service center will successfully transport various types of talents for local enterprises, sign labor contracts for more than one year and pay social benefits. For insurance, 500 yuan/person will be awarded. A number of 'recruitment stations for university graduates' will be set up at Feifei University. Functional areas such as recruitment information release, employment guidance service and entrepreneurship consulting training will be set up. 10,000 yuan for a one-time construction grant; the annual performance appraisal and assessment of qualified 'one-stop service center for entrepreneurship' or 'academic graduate employment service station', respectively, to give annual operation subsidies 100,000 yuan.
Keywords: entrepreneurial environment
Hefei City will vigorously promote 'Internet + government services' and build an integrated talent intelligence service platform in accordance with the requirement of 'Maximize One-on-One Service' to achieve unified reporting on the Internet, unified acceptance, unified auditing, and unified disbursement to facilitate the innovation of all types of talented people. Entrepreneurship.
In addition, Hefei will also commission third-party agencies to compile and publish the 'Hefei Talents Innovation and Business Report', conduct regular surveys on talent development environmental satisfaction, improve the performance assessment and credit information system for talents, and gradually establish a 'review of the talent project'. Traces the system, enhances the credibility of talent evaluation, and further optimizes the innovation and entrepreneurial environment.