Hangzhou's IC projects attract RMB 163 million investments in Q1, up 24.1 pct year-on-year

- IC sector has become a pillar of Hangzhou's electronic information industry, earning 19.1 billion yuan of revenue in 2018. As one of China's IC design hubs, Hangzhou is home to 122 IC enterprises, including many market leaders. For example, Hangzhou C-SKY Microsystems Co., Ltd., the sole provider of China's home-grown 32-bit embedded CPU, started its business in Hangzhou in 2001 and its products received representative achievements of the national project concerning electronic devices, chips and basic software products. The city has gathered IC design enterprises such as Hangzhou Silan Microelectronics, a leading integrated device manufacturer (IDM) in China, Sage Microelectronics whose Bridge series rank third globally in terms of shipment, and Hangzhou ZhongKe Microelectronics whose chips provide support for the Beidou Navigation Satellite System. Meanwhile, Hangzhou has been increasingly attractive to scientific and technological talents. Data showed that the city's net inflow rate of such talents in 2018 stood at 12.6 percent, higher than the 2.07 percent of Shanghai and 0.24 percent of Beijing. These accomplishments could be attributed to measures adopted by the city to foster an innovative and friendly environment for IC industry growth. In January 2018, Hangzhou announced the establishment of the Qingshan Lake Micro-Nano Smart Manufacturing Town, which focuses on intelligent sensors and chips' design, R&D, testing and packaging and application integration of intelligent sensors. The town has attracted investments of 7.92 billion yuan in 26 micro-nano projects as of today. To give full play to the role of IC industry in information economy, Hangzhou rolled out special policies in July 2018 for promoting related projects and arranging special funds for IC enterprises. Hangzhou's IC industry covers design, manufacturing, packaging and test, materials, devices and other areas in the whole industrial chain. It tops Chinese cities in terms of design for embedded CPU, microwave and millimeter-wave IC, digital audio and video, said an official of the Hangzhou Investment Promotion Bureau, adding that the bureau will continue propelling the development of the IC industry in partnership with relevant institutions and enterprises.