The 2018 Wuxi Taihu Lake "Chip" Summit is held in Grand Kingtown Hotel in Binhu district on July 27. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The 2018 Wuxi Taihu Lake "Chip" Summit and 2018 Wuxi IC Design Industry Development Forum was held in Binhu district on July 27.

The summit was hosted by the Wuxi National Industrial Design Park, and was co-organized by the Wuxi Liyuan Economic Development Zone, China Key System & Integrated Circuit Co Ltd, and the Wuxi Semi-conductor Industry Association. Among some 300 attendees were well-known academics and corporate executives from China’s integrated circuit industry as well as government officials at provincial, municipal, and district level.

Chen Xilun, director of Binhu district, introduced its general economic strengths as well as the solid foundation that it offers the IC industry to build on. Chen mentioned that the IC design industry in Binhu district is aiming to surpass 20 billion yuan ($2.9 billion) in scale. 15 industrial leaders received letters of appointment on site, becoming consultants to the development of the IC industry in Binhu district.

Distinguished IC experts, such as Chen Dapeng, vice-director of the Institute of Microelectronics of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Zeng Xuan, professor at Fudan University, spoke about the latest trends and potential opportunities and challenges for China's IC industry.

A signing ceremony of IC-related projects at the 2018 Wuxi Taihu Lake "Chip" Summit [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The summit also witnessed the signing of a series of cooperation agreements, involving 15 IC-related projects with a total investment of 2 billion yuan.

At present, Binhu district has gathered 40-odd IC-design-related enterprises, including China Key System & Integrated Circuit, Maxscend Microelectronics, Qualchip, and a number of other influential brands. Over the first half of the year, above-scale IC companies that were surveyed in the district made a total revenue of 2.2 billion yuan, up 37.19 percent year on year.

"It is rare for a city in China to have established a complete IC industrial chain. Wuxi receives raw material from Yixing city, completes wafer production in Xinwu district, conducts packaging & testing in Jiangyin city, and has its IC designed in Binhu district," said Zheng Tianyu, director of Binhu district's economy and information bureau, when interviewed before the conference.

Li Zhaolin, professor at Tsinghua University, advises on the development of the IC industry in Wuxi city at an interview before the conference. [Photo/Zhou Wenbo]