A think tank for integrated circuit (IC) industrial exchanges in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area -- the AI-based Smart Manufacturing Systems Technical Committee (AISMS TC) -- was established Dec 8 by the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

The AISMS TC will promote high-level academic, industrial, and capital exchanges with Macao, said Wu Chuangwei. Wu, deputy director of the Hengqin New Area Administrative Committee, made his comments at the China (Hengqin) Semiconductor Smart Manufacturing Summit.

The think tank fits in with an October report on Zhuhai's IC development calling for a world-class industry innovation park relying on Hengqin Science City, which is dedicated to artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and life science with emphasis on urban functions for industry-city integration. The document advocates eased cross-border flow and cooperation concerning innovative talents, technologies, and capital.

Launch ceremony of AISMS TC [Photo courtesy Science & Technology Daily]

The manufacturing industry has followed a linear path from industrialization to automation, informatization, and intellectualization, said Zhou Mengchu, co-founder of IEEE AISMS TC. Zhou said the technological foundation of "smart" manufacturing has been consolidated with the rise of artificial intelligence, big data, and 5G technologies.

The semiconductor industry is the main battlefield for digitization, networking, and intellectualization of China's manufacturing industry. Many other countries are also striving to command the sector's heights, according to Zhou and Wang Jianwei, deputy head of the Information Technology Development Department of the Ministry of Industry & Information Technology. 

Experts and scholars including Wu Hanming, honorary president of the IEEE AISMS TC; Guan Xiaohong of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Wu Naiqi, director of the Macao Institute of System Engineering, joined executives from renowned enterprises and investment agencies to explore the intellectualization of domestic semiconductor manufacturing.

Also at the summit, the 2020 Semiconductor Smart Manufacturing Strategy White Book was released by IEEE AISMS TC and the Chinese Research Branch of the IEEE Robotics & Automation Society TC on Semiconductor Manufacturing Automation.

The document states that "smart" manufacturing has trended from market-based products and technology to customization of ecological modes, from intensified R&D expenses to frequent capital grafting, and from westernization of advanced technology to normalization of international competition. It further states that the sector now underscores the supplementary role of intellectualized software to hardware improvements, with the vertical refinement of technology evolving to horizontal cross-over.

The summit was jointly organized by the Macau University of Science & Technology and Shenzhen-based IKAS, which opened a research center in Hengqin last year to maintain competitiveness in the quickly evolving semiconductor manufacturing sector.