In addition, with the popularity of chip topics, domestic chips have also begun to gain favor from various sources of capital. Some companies have also indicated that they will enter the chip industry. At the same time, domestic chip concept stocks are also sought after. In the domestic market, Alibaba The acquisition of Zhongtian Micro can be described as a comprehensive layout. On the one hand, it continues to increase investment, and on the other hand, it seizes time for independent research and development of chips. Ali's Dharma Hospital recently announced the development of a neural network chip, Ali-NPU, which will be used for image video analysis. AI calculations such as machine learning. It is understood that as early as November 2016, Alibaba and Tencent had led a round of US$23 million round robin financing for programmable chip company Barefoot Networks. The recent round of financing of the chip company Cambrian has been completed. State-owned capital venture capital funds, China National Bank International Fund and other national team background funds, old shareholders also participate in different levels of investment. After the current round of financing, the Cambrian valuation reached more than 2 billion US dollars. On June 4, there was another Chip-listed companies announced that they have acquired shares of major funds. According to Taiji Industrial Bulletin, the controlling shareholder of the company Wuxi Industry Development Group and the National IC The Industrial Investment Fund signed the Share Transfer Agreement, and the controlling shareholder transferred 130 million shares of Taiji Industrial to the national integrated circuit industry investment fund, which accounted for 6.17% of the company's total capital stock. The transfer price was 7.3 yuan per share. Dongming Zhu’s recent high profile Gree said that Gree would not hesitate to invest 50 billion yuan to enter the chip field. Subsequently, Konka Group also announced that Konka Group will establish a semiconductor technology division, formally enter the semiconductor industry. In fact, in the early years, TCL, Changhong has entered the chip field, and is continuing to increase Big expansion in this area.
In the recent new wave of investment boom, national capital, internet giants, home appliance giants, venture capital and other capitals have all stepped up investment in domestically produced chips. It is understood that the upsurge of domestic investment in chip investment has been The government promoted that the establishment of the national integrated circuit industry investment fund in September 2014 drove the national semiconductor investment fever. The first phase of the fund reached 138.7 billion yuan. It has invested in more than 62 projects, involving 24 listed companies and inciting social capital. It reached 514.5 billion yuan. At present, the second phase of the national integrated circuit industry investment fund is in the process of fundraising, and the guaranteed scale will reach 150 billion yuan, which is expected to boost social capital to more than 450 billion yuan, plus the first phase of investment funds is expected to exceed the total Trillions of yuan. It can be seen that localization of chips is also needed. In fact, in the era of smart information, chips have already exceeded oil and become the most imported material every year. The annual import value exceeds 200 billion US dollars. Reported that Qualcomm’s chip sales and patent licensing fees in China accounted for nearly 60% of its total global revenue. China’s domestic chip industry has not been able to develop. There are three main factors constraining its development: lack of capital, lack of technical barriers, and shortage of professionals. The chip industry has a long investment cycle and high risks. At the same time, the continuous upgrading of industries requires a large amount of funds to continue to invest.
It is understood that there are companies investing in R&D on chips, and the R&D expenses are twice that of their profits. Therefore, the huge investment in R&D capital is difficult to sustain. Coupled with their respective industry investment patterns, it has made domestic chip research difficult to reach. There are opinions that Chinese chips must be produced by private enterprises. The author does not oppose this view, but it is difficult to completely agree. In fact, the chip industry is already a symbol of a country’s manufacturing and technological strength. It can even be said that the chip industry has become a National strategic industries, their development and industrial chain layout, will inevitably require a holistic strategic thinking. Obviously, individual companies are incompetent and can't solve problems at the same time. It is understood that South Korea is in the process of realizing the rise of the chip industry. The government’s guiding role is very important. As of October 1986, the Korean government implemented the “Very Large Scale Integrated Circuit Technology Joint Development Plan” and requested government-based and private non-government assistance to invest in the development of DRAM chip core basic technologies.
In the following three years, this R&D project invested a total of US$110 million, and the government took up 57% of R&D funding. Perhaps the strategic cooperation thinking and cooperative win-win approach of the 'joint development plan' initiated by South Korea in the late 1980s It is worth learning from us. At the same time, we can foresee that with the solution of financial problems, coupled with the ability to establish long-term talent incentives, the process of localization of chips will continue to accelerate.