Eight projects worth over 1.8 billion yuan ($259 million) were signed at the opening ceremony of the Nov 29-30 CSIA-ICCAD 2018 Annual Conference & Zhuhai IC Industry Innovation & Development Summit at the Zhuhai International Convention & Exhibition Center in Shizimen Central Business District.

Intelligent chips, fingerprint identification chips, storage IC, battery management system chips, Smart Home series MCU/SoC micro-electronics R&D, and other projects were contracted. InnoScience, Zhuhai Eeasy Electronic Technology, Taiwan's Keycore Technology, One Space of Beijing and Chongqin, Injoinic Technology of Shenzhen, and other companies are to locate in the Hi-Tech National Industrial Development Zone in Tangjiawan and elsewhere in Xiangzhou District.

More than 2,000 officials, business representatives, university leaders, industrial park operators, and industry association members discussed the theme of "Linking Core Power, Leading intelligence of the Great Bay Area" during the annual event for the IC (integrated circuit) design industry.

Conference banner [Photo courtesy funxun.com]

Also attracted were more than 100 IC enterprises from over 10 countries and regions. TSMC, VeriSilicon, Synopsys, Samsung Electronics, and MooreElite were among the giants.

Participants were kept abreast of IC design industry trends while they built up networks at forums, seminars, and exhibitions. They discussed in detail how to enhance innovation capability and improve industry chains.

This was the second time for Zhuhai to hold the conference in the event's 25-year history. The city functions as the IC design and production base for Guangdong Province and currently ranks eighth in terms of IC design scale. It is home to a host of industry leaders such as Actions Semiconductor, Allwinner Technology, and Apex Microelectronics.

The Annual Conference of Integrated Circuit Computer Auxiliary Design (ICCAD) was sponsored by the China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA), Integrated Circuit Design Industry Technology Innovation Alliance (ICTIA), Department of Industry & Information Technology of Guangdong, and Zhuhai government. The general expert group of national important projects of core electronic devices, high-end general chips, and basic software was also involved.