On April 15, Albert Li, CEO of Lingyange Semiconductor Inc. (hereinafter referred to as "LYG"), was invited by Zhuhai High-tech Zone to give a keynote speech on the theme of "Modern Integrated Circuit Industry Development and Technological Process" at the 7th Production Research Institute Learning Special Training of the High-tech Zone Investment Promotion Team. The main responsible comrades of the Party Group Work Department, Investment Company and Park Carrier of the High-tech Zone, as well as relevant investment personnel, participated in the training.
"Silicon wafers are raw land, wafers are large and small districts with identical houses, chips are a house, wafer factories are construction factories, and IC design companies are architectural firms." Albert Li, CEO of LYG, compared the semiconductor industry to real estate, allowing the leaders and cadres of the investment promotion team participating in the training to have a more intuitive understanding of the integrated circuit industry.
During the training session, Albert Li discussed the theme of "Modern Integrated Circuit Industry Development and Technological Process", combining his nearly 30 years of experience in the semiconductor industry. He elaborated on the division of labor, industrial differentiation process, and business model of chip design services in the upstream and downstream industries of integrated circuits. He believed that the rapid growth of AI and supercomputing in mainland China has driven the mass production of advanced dedicated chips. The cost and difficulty of chip fabrication have significantly increased, accelerating the demand for back-end design outsourcing. Most Chinese chip design companies are small and medium-sized teams, and having only front-end design capabilities is a pain point in the industry. With the clear strategy of domesticating semiconductors and the rapid growth of 16nm design demand in mainland China, the chip design service industry is in short supply. It is expected that by 2025, the potential demand for domestic chip design services in China will exceed $10 billion, with 50% coming from 16nm to 7nm processes.
In addition to analyzing the industry situation and business models, Albert Li also elaborated on the technical process from the perspectives of Moore's Law, evolution of semiconductor technology nodes, continuing Moore's Law, surpassing Moore's Law, EDA design process optimization, etc. He believed that the industry is developing towards high performance, low power consumption, small area, high yield, and reliability.
Albert Li stated that the integrated circuit industry is both technology-intensive and capital-intensive, with high requirements for talent, technology, and capital. The continuous upgrading of technology nodes means higher integration, lower power consumption, and improved performance. With the continuous upgrade of technology nodes, Moore's Law faces challenges. However, in the face of technological bottlenecks, the integrated circuit industry continues to seek breakthroughs. By introducing new materials, processes, and 3D stacking technologies, the integrated circuit industry has taken a new step in continuing Moore's Law.
During the specific training, Albert Li also introduced the core team, development history, and layout of LYG in the fields of industry, academia, and research to the leading cadres participating in the event. Through practical cases, he introduced the company's technical highlights and achievements. As a chip design service company established less than three years ago, in 2021, LYG successfully fabricated its AI acceleration computing chip; in 2022, it successfully fabricated its high-security computing server chip. It assisted customers in completing the design and verification of 12nm GPU/NPU chips and will continue to cooperate in developing the next-generation 5nm chips. This product is also planned to be imported into the group's digital city solution as the core chip for intelligent servers.
Attracting investment is the driver and power source of high-quality development in Zhuhai High-tech Zone. In order to further optimize and upgrade the level of industrial investment promotion, and to fully forge a team of "pioneers" with excellent skills, the High-tech Zone has specially organized learning special training for the investment promotion team at the Production Research Institute. Several sessions have been held so far. The leading cadres of the investment promotion team said that the teachers had high theoretical level and rich working experience, and it was a rare opportunity to learn face-to-face with industry leaders. By participating in this training, they gained a deeper understanding of the current situation and trends of the integrated circuits industry, providing intellectual support for future industrial investment promotion.
On the day of the event, LYG's chip and system module products were also displayed on site.