From theory to practice chip talent training speed is urgent
Statistics from China Customs show that my country's total chip imports in 2019 amounted to US$304 billion, far exceeding the second-ranked crude oil imports.
Because my country's chip self-sufficiency rate is currently less than 30%, especially for high-end chips, it is heavily dependent on external sources, and an important reason for the "lack of chips" is the lack of chip design and manufacturing talents.
This year, when Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei visited Southeast University, Nanjing University and other universities, he said: “The responsibility of igniting the beacon of the future lies with universities, and universities are places where talents are exported to society. The rise of Chinese chips will inevitably require the efforts of talents. ."
So, how big is the gap between my country's chip industry and the international advanced level?
How to light up the "beacon" of my country's chip talents?
A few days ago, the 2020 3rd Semiconductor Talent Conference hosted by China Institute of Electronics and Information Industry Development, China Semiconductor Industry Association, and Institute of Microelectronics of Chinese Academy of Sciences was held in Nanjing. The reporter interviewed relevant experts.
Three types of chip talents are in short supply, especially high-end talents
It is understood that chips are divided into three categories according to their functions: memory chips, computing chips (logic circuits) and analog circuit chips.
Memory chips can be said to be the cornerstone of the big data era. The original data, computer programs, intermediate running results, and final running results in computers are all stored in memory. Therefore, products such as mobile phones, tablets, PCs, and servers all use memory chips.
The report shows that at present, memory chips account for 1/3 of the semiconductor industry and are monopolized by the three largest memory companies in South Korea and the United States. South Korea’s Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron account for 95% of the global market.
Computing chips (logic circuits) are divided according to the industry chain, and there are five major areas: equipment, materials, integrated circuit design, foundry and packaging and testing. my country's mainland chip companies only account for 5% of the market share, and they are at the low end of the chip industry chain. From the chip industry's basic software, underlying architecture, photoresist and supporting reagents and other chip materials, to high-end display chips, basic operating systems, integrated circuit special equipment and high-precision processing equipment, my country depends on imports.
The integrated circuits used to process analog signals, that is, analog circuit chips, are widely used in the field of automotive electronics and the Internet of Things in the 5G era.
However, the global high-end market for analog circuit chips is mainly occupied by American manufacturers such as ADI and TI. my country has a high degree of external dependence on high-end core analog circuit chips, such as high-speed digital-to-analog conversion chips and radio frequency chips.
"In general, there is a shortage of various types of chip talents in my country, especially high-end talents. The problem of talents, especially the shortage of high-end talent teams, has become a key factor restricting the sustainable development of my country's semiconductor industry." The theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics in Hunan Province Said Fan Dongjun, a special researcher of the System Research Center.
By 2022, my country’s chip professional talent gap is still close to 250,000
In recent years, my country has stepped up its efforts to cultivate various chip talents, and the Ministry of Education is also actively deploying integrated circuits and other strategic emerging industries to develop related disciplines.
On July 30, the State Council Academic Degrees Committee voted to pass a proposal: Integrated circuit majors become a first-level discipline, independent from the first-level disciplines of electronic science and technology, will cultivate more chip talents for my country.
At the conference, the "China Integrated Circuit Industry Talent White Paper (2019-2020 Edition)" compiled by China Electronics Information Industry Development Research Institute, China Semiconductor Industry Association, AMB Education Group and other units was released.
The white paper pointed out that my country's total supply of integrated circuit talents is still insufficient. By 2022, there will still be a shortage of nearly 250,000 chip professionals.
According to the statistical analysis of the white paper, although the number of employees in my country's integrated circuit industry has increased year by year, the number of employees in 2019 was about 512,000, an increase of 11% year-on-year. The average salary of the semiconductor industry increased by 4.75% year-on-year. The development environment has gradually improved. In terms of the current industry development trend, the total supply of integrated circuit talents is still insufficient, and there is a structural imbalance.
Relevant data show that my country's chip talent gap in 2020 will exceed 300,000.
In terms of chip-related talents' academic qualifications, undergraduates accounted for 73.76%, and masters and above accounted for only 6.53%.
According to Wang Zhihua, a professor at the Institute of Microelectronics of Tsinghua University, my country’s lack of chip talents, especially high-end talents, is related to the lack of chip R&D and talent training in domestic universities on the one hand; on the other hand, it is related to the market environment faced by domestic companies. Big relationship, relatively weak research and development foundation.
"The chip industry is a technology-intensive industry. We must consider not only 0 to 1 innovation, but also how to improve the process level, and make the quality of chip products to be equivalent to the international leading level. Application demand is the source of innovation. High-level personnel training is the key to innovation." Wang Zhihua said.
It is imperative to increase the cultivation and introduction of talents for semiconductor high-end materials
"The cultivation of chip talents is urgent. Compared with theoretical research, the top priority is to shorten the cycle of chip talents from the training stage to the front line of scientific research and industry." said Longxing Shi, director of the National ASIC System Engineering Technology Research Center and professor of Southeast University, Southeast University The School of Microelectronics of the University has undertaken the task of building a national integrated circuit talent training base since its establishment, and is now exploring how to cultivate high-end talents around the development of the chip industry chain.
Huang Gang, Dean of AMB Education Research Institute, said that from the background of the development of China's semiconductor industry, the integration of production and education and collaborative education are effective measures to break through the bottleneck of chip talent training. Only the deep integration of education and industry can meet difficulties. Go up and break through the dilemma.
Professor Li Yingxiang, Dean of the School of Communication Engineering of Chengdu University of Information Technology, also said: "At present, the school-enterprise alliance is an important guarantee for improving the quality of chip talent training. The college is actively exploring and cooperating with enterprises to cultivate various chip talents."
It is understood that many domestic universities are also exploring ways to train innovative talents for chips.
Among them, the "Lifetime One Core" program of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences has attracted much attention.
Sun Ninghui, Dean of the School of Computer Science and Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced that the National University of Science and Technology has opened the "Chip Agile Design" course. It is planned to let senior undergraduates and first-year graduate students learn and practice chip design methods, and let students bring their own design chips. After graduation, we will strive to train 500 graduates nationwide every year in 3 years and 1000 graduates every year in 5 years.
"It is imperative to accelerate the introduction and training of talents in my country's semiconductor high-end materials industry." Fan Dongjun believes that high-end semiconductor materials can be used as a pilot to implement a special training program for doctoral talents in key areas that are in short supply. According to the needs of industry enterprises, relying on high-level universities and Domestic key enterprises have targeted a group of high-end talents in semiconductor materials.
Support a number of key universities to build or prepare to build a demonstration semiconductor material college, accelerate the construction of a collaborative education platform for the integration of production and education of semiconductor materials, and ensure the sustainable development of my country's high-end semiconductor materials and chip industries.
"As long as all parties work together, I believe that China's chip industry will eventually reach the world's advanced level like the aerospace and nuclear power industries." Fan Dongjun suggested to promote universities and regional backbone enterprises in the field of semiconductor materials, national public service platforms, technological innovation platforms, and industries The chemical base and local governments cooperate to encourage the key laboratories of semiconductor materials science and the science and technology innovation center to recruit a group of outstanding scientific research talents at home and abroad through the experience of overseas companies and the introduction of talents, and promote the policy of building nests, attracting phoenix, and cultivating talents. , To narrow the gap with foreign levels in the shortest time.
(Our reporter Yuan Yufei)