The third seminar in the “Autonomous Knowledge System Construction and New Perspectives in Area Studies” series took place at Peking University’s School of International Studies on October 16. The theme was “Global Integrated Circuit (IC) Technology Development and China’s Industrial Prospects,” with the keynote speech delivered by Prof. Wang Yuan, secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Integrated Circuits, PKU. Prof. Lei Shaohua, associate professor of the School of International Studies, PKU, moderated the event.
Prof. Wang Yuan began with an overview of the development of IC technology. The science of integrated circuits originated in 1947 with the invention of the transistor by William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter H. Brattain at Bell Labs. Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments and Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor later developed germanium-based and silicon-based integrated circuits. Intel’s creation of the first large-scale integrated circuits, DRAM memory, and CPU marked the beginning of IC engineering practice. China’s first large-scale integrated circuit, the 1024-bit DRAM memory, was invented at PKU under the leadership of Academician Wang Yangyuan.
Wang Yuan then discussed the current status and trends in global IC technology development. Integrated circuits, the “food” of modern industry, have become a focal point in international competition.
The IC industry, encompassing manufacturing, design, and testing, faces challenges, including a shortage of high-end talent. Prof. Wang Yuan noted that we are now in the post-Moore era, with future IC development focusing on applications like artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, demanding chip intelligence, high computation, and energy efficiency. However, the current rate of IC chip updates lags behind AI needs, with unresolved issues like high power consumption, cost, and low intelligence levels.
Wang Yuan then covered the development of China’s IC technology industry. China faces high demand and low production capacity, with significant gaps in IC talent and experienced practitioners. The Chinese IC industry struggles in chip design, manufacturing processes, and packaging tests. International sanctions have precisely targeted China’s industry, creating unprecedented difficulties. Despite the US’s comprehensive control, China has long valued the IC industry, providing policy support for talent development and scientific research.
Regarding future technology trends, Prof. Wang Yuan stated that despite US dominance in AI computation, China has potential advantages in data resources to make breakthroughs. China’s ICs will use new devices, computations, architectures, and integrations to bridge the computation gap. Amid significant changes, China’s IC industry faces both crises and opportunities, with a firm belief in overcoming challenges and achieving success.
In the discussion after the lecture, Lei Shaohua talked with Prof. Wang Yuan about the US policy of suppression and chip blockade sanctions. Prof. Zan Tao highlighted that Prof. Wang Yuan’s explanations provide direction for autonomous knowledge system construction and inspire research in area studies. Zhang Yongle believed that the US chip embargo reflects the technological aspect of US global hegemony, and the interaction between regional countries and this hegemony system is a natural research subject for area studies. The demonstrative effect of China’s breakthroughs could potentially drive the evolution of the international order. Further discussions included US computation power transformation into industry, China’s utilization of data advantages, integrated circuit development in India, and the potential exclusion of Third World countries from the IC industry due to technological iteration and advantage concentration. Participants also engaged in in-depth discussions with Prof. Wang Yuan on enterprise strategy planning and technology development.
