Zhuhai's integrated circuit (IC) industry ranked second in both scale and growth rate in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), according to the recently released White Paper on the Development of Zhuhai's Integrated Circuit Industry (2021).

The white paper, containing nearly 20,000 words and more than 20 professional charts, was compiled by 43 units, including the Zhuhai Integrated Circuit Industry Association, after over four months of on-site visits, surveys, and discussions conducted under arrangements made by the Zhuhai Bureau of Industry & Information Technology.

IC is one of the four leading industries that Zhuhai has given priority to and the white paper has put forward that its industrial scale will exceed 100 billion yuan ($15 billion) by 2025, forming an IC industrial cluster with global competitiveness.

An IC product by Zhuhai-based Goldpac [File photo by Zhong Fan / Zhuhai Daily]

Zhuhai's IC design, the largest process of the industrial chain in the city, ranked second in terms of scale and growth rate in the Greater Bay Area. 

The city is now home to more than 100 upstream and downstream IC enterprises after over three decades of development. Among them, 22 have achieved annual operation revenue of over 100 million yuan ($14 million) and five are listed.

The city will focus on the design, production, sealing, equipment, and materials of the IC industrial chain to carry out precise investment attraction. As of now, new prominent IP enterprises, such as InnoSilicon and Akrostar Technology, have been introduced to Zhuhai to help build China's strongest IP enterprise cluster.

Efforts have also been made to deepen innovation on techniques and products by local IC design enterprises. Currently, consumable compatible chips for printers produced by Zhuhai account for over 50 percent of the global market share.

The city has long been paying attention to the construction and development of IC public service platforms. For instance, Zhuhai South IC Design Service Center in Tangjiawan has been providing services in generic technical support, technical consultation, product testing, as well as talent training since 2004. Other public service institutes like the Zhuhai Advanced IC Research Institute and Zhuhai Semiconductor Industrial Association were set up in recent years, further increasing the industrial service capacity.

Meanwhile, Zhuhai has been taking an active role in setting up IC industrial funds, such as the 12-billion-yuan ($2-billion) Guangdong-Macao Semiconductor Fund, as well as the 9-billion-yuan ($1-billion) Guangdong Semiconductor and IC Design Sub Fund.

Gong Bin, head of the Zhuhai Advanced IC Research Institute, said that the rapid growth of Zhuhai's IC industry is due to the city's outstanding industrial policies and coordinated regional industrial development.

Gong added that Zhuhai will devote more efforts to areas like supporting enterprises' technological innovation, implementing precise investment attraction, strengthening Guangdong-Macao coordinated development, as well as optimizing supporting services to push forward the comprehensive development of the IC industry.