New projects signal Sichuan's healthy economic climate

Global Foundries, one of the world's leading wafer fabrication company, launched its Chengdu 12-inch (305-mm) wafer fab project in Chengdu High-Tech Industrial Development Zone in February.

As the first 12-inch wafer production line in Southwest China, the project will attract investment totaling more than $10 billion, making it Global Foundries' largest and most advanced wafer production base in China.

Wafer is the most commonly used semiconductor material, and it is available in different diameters, ranging from 25.4 mm (1 inch) to 305 mm (12 inches) or even larger.

Global Foundries, headquartered in Silicon Valley, the United States, is the world's leading full-service semiconductor design and fabrication company. Its 22FDX 22nm FD-SOI production process stands out from its competitors. FD-SOI refers to fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator technology and one of its advantages is that it creates less variability in the production process, leading to higher yields.

Chengdu is the ideal place for the project as the city has complete infrastructure, a skilled labor force, and high-tech company cluster, said Sanjay Jha, CEO of Global Foundries.

The company's project fills the gaps in 12-inch wafer production in Southwest China. It will enlarge the scale of Chengdu's electronic information and integrated circuit industries, which will help the city to build a globally renowned integrated circuit industry base, according to an official at the zone.

According to the city's plan, the output value of the electronic information manufacturing industry will reach 570 billion yuan ($83.04 billion) by 2020, with an average annual growth rate of 20 percent; software and information services will achieve an output value of 430 billion yuan, with an average annual growth rate of 16 percent.

The city of Chengdu and Global Foundries are also looking at funding the Chengdu Integrated Circuit Ecosystem Plan, with a view to carrying out additional, in-depth cooperation in various fields.

In the integrated circuit industry chain, Chengdu has also attracted global semiconductor manufacturing giants Intel, Texas Instruments and AMD, as well as Taiwan-headquartered semiconductor firm MediaTek, and the Chinese mainland's Spreadtrum Communications, to settle in its high-tech industrial zone.

On Nov 18, Intel launched its advanced test technology project in Chengdu High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, with total investment of $1.6 billion.

The recent investment boom in Chengdu is rooted in Sichuan province's overall investment climate.

The number of major investment projects in the province is set to reach 1,952 in the first three months of 2017, with total funding of 786.9 billion yuan.

The projects will mainly focus on infrastructure, industrial development, livelihood enhancement and social undertakings. Among them, industrial projects make up the highest proportion, accounting for 41 percent, with an annual increase of 6.6 percentage points. The increase shows that industrial investment, mostly from non-State-owned businesses, is taking the place of infrastructure investment to drive local economic growth.

Several projects, including a high-tech rail production project in Guang'an, a biological composite material for 3-D printing project in Nanchong, and a new-energy gas generator project in Suining, are among the large-scale industrial investment ventures located in Sichuan.

Chengdu's high-tech, modern manufacturing, modern services and modern agriculture sectors accounted for 52 percent of total investment in key projects.

There are currrently 168 projects in Sichuan that boast investment of 1 billion yuan. Such large-scale projects can only survive and thrive in the correct environment and market conditions. The province's major projects have bucked the continuing trend of economic stagnation, showing the province's increasing appeal to investors, according to an official at the Sichuan Provincial Investment Promotion Bureau.

liyou@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 03/09/2017 page18)