Guidelines to Promote National Integrated Circuit Industry Development : Unofficial Translation Ministry of Industry and Information Technology National Development and Reform Commission Ministry of Finance Department of Science and Technology June 24, 2014 I. Current Situation For the past several years, with the help of market forces and supporting policies, China s IC industry has experienced fast- paced development, achieved notable improvements in overall strength, continuously shortened the gap between China s abilities in IC design and manufacturing, gradually approached international levels in packaging and testing, and some critical equipment and materials have been adopted into the supply chains of domestic and foreign companies. This has created several companies with a certain level of international competitiveness. That said, the IC industry in China still has difficulties financing chip manufacturing industries; its ability to sustain innovation is weak; industry development is severed from market demands; different segments of the supply chain lack coordination; and policies that address the features of the particular industry have not been ideal. There is still a relatively large gap between China s IC development levels and those of other countries (and regions). China still depends in large part on imports, and China has struggled to build the core competitiveness of its domestic industry and effectively support its information security. At present, the global IC industry is preparing to enter a major adjustment period. On the one hand, the global market situation is changing rapidly, the scale of investment is swiftly growing and dominant companies are rapidly acquiring market share. At the same time, mobile technologies and chips are experiencing explosive growth, while
cloud computing, Internet of Things, Big Data and other new industries are growing fast, and there are new trends in the evolution of IC industry technology. China has the largest IC market in the world, and China s market demand will maintain continuous growth. Under these new circumstances, China s IC industry development will face major challenges, but it will also usher in hard to come by opportunities. China should fully take advantage of its market advantages, build a favorable development environment, trigger industry vitality and innovation, drive industrial supply chain sustainable growth, accelerate moves to catch up with and overtake others, and exert great efforts to promote breakthrough development in the IC industry. II. Overall Requirements a. Guiding Ideas With Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Three Represents and Scientific Development Theory providing guidance; with the intention of thoroughly studying the spirit of the 18 th Party Congress and 3 rd Party Plenum; and implementing the Central Party and State Council s various decisions, the policy will allow the market to play a decisive role in the allocation of resources, better make use of the government, and give prominence to the important role of industry. Centered around market demand and being drawn by full supply chain and system demands, with IC design at the front end, IC manufacturing at the foundation, and equipment and materials as supports, and with technological, methodological and system mechanism innovation as the propelling force, the policy will break the industry development bottleneck, promote IC industry breakthrough and overall improvement, advance the transformation of China s economic development system, help safeguard China s national security, and effectively provide support for the overall strengthening of China s comprehensive national power. b. Basic Principles. Pulled by demand. Rely on market advantages, address the large and sweeping demands for IT consumers, improve industry market adjustment abilities and abilities to meet demand, build a chip to software to device to system to information services supply chain. Driving Innovation. Strengthen the important role of industry as technological innovators, increase the strength of R&D, integrate into national technological special policies, achieve breakthroughs with key IC technologies, bring together and propel mechanism innovation and business model innovation. Soft and Hard Integration. Strengthen the coordinated innovation between IC design and software development, allow hardware functional requirements to propel software development,
allow software upgrades to promote hardware technology improvements, and drive information technology development levels to achieve an overall improvement. Key breakthroughs. Strengthen the linking of market demand to technological development, achieve faster development in critical areas that touch on national security or that have large development potential. Open development. Fully make use of global resources, promote the open innovative development of all segments of the supply chain, strengthen international cooperation and communication, achieve an improvement in China s global industrial competitiveness. c. Development Goals By 2015, achieve clear results in the innovation of China s IC industry development system mechanisms, create a financial platform and policy environment that suits the development of the IC industry. Achieve IC industry market revenue greater than 350 billion RMB per year. Approach the level of global leaders in mobile end- product, network communications and other key areas of IC design. Achieve large- scale manufacture of 32/28 nanometer chips; at least 30 percent of testing and packaging revenue to come from mid- to high- end packaging and testing; 65-45 nanometer critical equipment and 12 inch silicon chips along with other critical materials to find application in the supply chain. By 2020, the gap between China s IC industry and the rest of the world will be continuously shrinking, annual sales will be increasing by at least 20 percent, and the sustainable development capacity of the industry will achieve substantial improvement. Become global IC design leaders in areas such as mobile end- product, network communication, cloud computing, Internet of Things and Big Data, gradually forming an industrial ecosystem. Achieve large scale manufacturing of 16/14 nanometer chips, become a global leader in packaging and testing, have Chinese critical equipment and materials enter the international procurement system, build a technologically modern, secure and reliable IC industry system. By 2030, become global leaders in all main segments of the IC industry supply chain, have several Chinese companies enter the ranks of the globally leading IC companies, and attain breakthrough development. III. Main Tasks and Development Emphasis 1) Develop IC design industry. In the supply chain, strengthen the coordinated innovation in IC design, software development, systems integration, content and service allow fast growth in IC design to drive growth in manufacturing. In the near term,
focus on mobile smart devices and network communication areas, developing large quantities and diverse mobile smart device chips, digital television chips, network communication chips, smart wearable equipment chips and operating systems to upgrade the overall competitiveness of the information technology industry. Develop market mechanisms to guide and push acquisitions and consolidation in the IC design industry. Accelerate R&D in core technologies in emerging sectors like cloud computing, Internet of Things and Big Data, and develop these industries based on the new formats and uses of new information processors, sensors, new storage and other critical new chips and cloud operating system software. Seize the high points of future development. Make gradual breakthroughs in critical IC and software areas, such as smart cards, smart grid, smart transportation, satellite navigation, industrial controls, electronic finance, automobile electronics and medical electronics, to improve support for the deep integration of informatization and industrialization. 2) Accelerate IC manufacturing. Seize the timely opportunity of technological transformation, break through the investment capital bottleneck, sustainably push for the construction of a modern and advanced manufacturing process. Accelerate the expansion of 45/40 nanometer chip manufacturing capacity, intensify efforts to construct 32/28 nanometer chip manufacturing, rapidly attain large- scale manufacturing capacity. Accelerate solid industrial development, promote 22/20 nanometer and 16/14 nanometer manufacturing. Vigorously develop the manufacture of specialty integrated circuits such as analog and mixed- signal circuits, MEMS, high- voltage circuits and RF circuits. Strengthen overall chip manufacturing abilities, and drive design improvements by improving industrial capabilities, while allowing manufacturing construction to drive the development of critical equipment and materials. 2) Improve the development levels of the packaging and testing sector. Vigorously promote M&A and consolidation in the domestic packaging and testing sector, increasing industrial consolidation. Adjust to the evolving market demands of the IC design and manufacturing sectors, develop CSP, WLP, TSV, and 3- D testing, as well as the industrialization of other modern testing and packaging technologies. 4) Breakthrough in IC critical equipment and materials. Strengthen the integration of IC equipment, materials and industry, research and develop mask aligners, plasma etchers, ion beam implanters and other critical equipment, development photoresistors, large silicon chips and other critical materials, strengthen the coordination between IC manufacturing and IC equipment and materials companies, accelerate industrialization. IV. Safeguard Measures 1) Strengthen leadership organization. Form a National IC Industry Development Small Leading Group responsible for IC industry development work and overall plan coordination, strengthen top- level planning, consolidate and mobilize resources to solve
major problems. Establish a consulting commission that will conduct surveys and research on major problems facing industry and policy measures, and make use of proof and assessments to provide advice. 2) Create a national industry investment fund. The National Industry Investment Fund (henceforth referred to as Fund ) will primarily attract funds from major industry, financial institutions and social funds, focusing on support for the IC industry development and the promotion of the upgrading and transformation of the industry. The Fund will operate according to market principles, focusing on IC manufacturing, as well as the design, packaging and testing, equipment and materials segments of the supply chain, to promote the improvement of industrial production capacity, to implement market consolidation and to help regulate industrial administration, all with the aim of creating a positive capacity for sustainable and independent development. Support the creation of regional IC industry investment funds. Encourage various social funds such as venture capital and equity investment funds to enter the IC industry sector. 3) Increase the strength of financial support. Positively take advantage of complementary policy- area and commercial- area financial benefits, support the Export- Import Bank of China s services for the IC industry, encourage and guide the China Development Bank and commercial banks to continue to increase their credit support for the IC industry, innovate and come up with credit services and products that are well- suited to the IC industry s needs. Support the financing of IC companies going public at home and abroad, issue debt financing tools and rely on the national development of a small and medium- sized business equity transfer system. Encourage development loan insurance and credit insurance businesses, and explore the development of insurance services and products tailored to the IC industry. 4) Implement tax support policies. Strengthen the further implementation of Document 18 (2000) (Encouraging the Development of Software and Integrated Circuit Industries) and Document 4 (2011) (Policies Further Encouraging the Development of Software and Integrated Circuit Industries), accelerate and improve the relevant support guidelines and measures, guarantee policy stability, and introduce a beneficial income tax policy for the IC industry testing, packaging, special materials and equipment segments of the supply chain. Continue import tax exemption policies for large- scale technology equipment, critical components and raw material companies that meet requirements, and implement import tax exemptions to relevant critical equipment, component and raw material companies that are needed for national technology policies, and appropriately adjust the list and catalog for import product tax exemption. 5) Strengthen the spread and use of safe and reliable software and hardware. Put together a safe and reliable critical software and hardware plan, following the principles of seeking breakthroughs, deployment based on industries, and taking gradual steps. Promote the use of technologically advanced, safe and reliable integrated circuits, basic
software and device systems. On the government procurement aspects of major engineering and financial informatization projects aimed at expanding domestic demand, procurement decisions should be based on the safety and reliability of the software and hardware products. Encourage basic telecommunications and internet companies to make procurement decisions based on the overall safety and reliability of the software and hardware devices and systems. Fully make use of policy measures aimed at expanding information consumption, promote the development of end- product uses on the basis of safety and reliability. In the internet, cloud computing, Internet of Things and Big Data new emerging industries, accelerate the formation of a standards system to support the development and application of safe and reliable software and hardware. 6) Strengthen the construction of industry innovation capabilities. Push for the formation of a coordination mechanism between different levels of the supply chain, support the development of an industry alliance. Encourage companies to establish an IC industry technological research organization, bring together research institutes and higher education institutes to conduct pre- competitive critical technology R&D, import foreign top- level human capital, accelerate the industry s sustainable development capacity. Strengthen the use and protection of intellectual property, establish a national special project intellectual property management system, guide the establishment of an intellectual property strategic alliance, positively explore a direct financing or asset management system geared towards intellectual property. In IC innovation areas, accelerate the shaping of standards, make full use of technological standards. 7) Vigorously expand the cultivation and import of human capital. Establish a robust IC talent development system, support the development of microelectronics; combining higher education and IC industries to develop talent, accelerate the establishment and development of model microelectronics institute and microelectronics professional development organization. Relying on the knowledge of technology experts, launching continuing education programs, adopt various measures to strongly support the development of high- level IC executives and address the shortage of backbone technological experts. Develop targeted study abroad programs, push for the construction of an international software and IC training base in China. Using existing channels, strengthen the support funds for the import of software and IC talent. In the Thousand Person Plan, further strengthen the support for the import of exceptional talent in the IC sphere, research a potential policy that will prioritize the importation of exceptional talent, as well as high caliber technological and management teams. Support further cooperation with international R&D organizations. Improve mechanisms to encourage and stimulate innovation, and implement equity and stock option benefit package policies for technical staff that innovate. 8) Continue to expand openness. Further improve the development environment, vigorously attract foreign capital, technology and talent; encourage international IC companies to establish R&D, manufacturing and operations centers in China. Encourage
Chinese IC companies to expand international collaboration, integrate into global resources and expand the global market. Make use of the Two- Shores (China and Taiwan) economic cooperation mechanism, encourage the Two- Shores IC companies to strengthen technological and industrial cooperation.