On October 21st, the General Office of the People's Government of Guangdong Province issued the "Action Plan for Accelerating the Innovative Development of the Optical Chip Industry in Guangdong Province (2024-2030)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Action Plan"), which aims to achieve more than 10 key core technological breakthroughs in the field of optical chips, create more than 10 "fist" products, cultivate more than 10 first-class leading enterprises with international competitiveness, and build about 10 national and provincial innovation platforms by2030.
Breakthrough key technologies and accelerate pilot scale conversion
The Action Plan clearly states that strengthening the basic research and original innovation capabilities of optical chips will encourage eligible enterprises, universities, research institutes, etc. to conduct basic research on future cutting-edge scientific issues such as single-chip integration, photon computing, ultra high speed photon networks, flexible photon chips, on-chip optical neural networks, etc. Increase research and development investment in high-speed optical communication chips, high-performance optical sensing chips, sensing fusion chips, thin-film lithium niobate materials, indium phosphide substrate materials, organic semiconductor materials, silicon optical integration technology, flexible integration technology, epitaxial growth and epitaxial processes, core semiconductor equipment, and other areas. Intensify the support for optical chips in the "Strong Chip" project, and extend industry policies such as research and development subsidies for underlying algorithms and architecture technologies in the integrated circuit industry, as well as the first round of chip fabrication awards before mass production, to areas such as optical chip design automation software (PDA tools) and silicon optical MPW chip fabrication.
Guangdong will support enterprises, universities, research institutes, etc. to build concept verification centers, research and development lead lines, and pilot lines around high-speed optical communication chips, high-performance optical sensing chips, infrared sensing chips, high-performance sensing fusion chips, thin-film lithium niobate, compound semiconductors, silicon-based (heterogeneous) integration, optoelectronic hybrid integration, and other fields. Support the pilot platform to actively exert its effectiveness. Support the pilot platform to provide a series of services to small and medium-sized enterprises in the field of optical chips, including prototype manufacturing, quality performance testing, small-scale trial production, and process amplification and maturation, to accelerate the maturation of new technologies and products. Encourage pilot platforms to build various incubation platforms such as makerspaces, incubators, accelerators, etc., and transfer mature technological achievements to enterprises through licensing, sales, and other means.
Building innovative platforms to promote industrial agglomeration
Guangdong will rely on various innovative entities such as enterprises, universities, research institutes, and new R&D institutions to lay out and construct a number of common technology R&D platforms in the field of optical chips, mainly focusing on basic theoretical research and emerging and disruptive technology breakthroughs. Introduce strategic technological forces from both domestic and foreign sources, cultivate a number of innovative platforms such as industrial innovation centers, technology innovation centers, manufacturing innovation centers, enterprise technology centers, engineering research centers, and key laboratories, focusing mainly on key sub sectors of optical chips. To create a number of public service platforms that promote innovative development in the optical chip industry, focusing on specialized service areas such as research and development design, concept validation, small-scale testing, pilot testing, inspection and testing, intellectual property, and talent cultivation.
The Action Plan clearly states that it supports cities with conditions to research and formulate special plans for the development of the optical chip industry, and accelerate the introduction of high-end innovative resources in the field of optical chips at home and abroad. Support Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Dongguan and other places to leverage the basic advantages of the semiconductor and integrated circuit industry chain, accelerate the cultivation of industrial clusters such as optical communication chips and optical sensing chips, and create a complete optical chip industry chain covering design, manufacturing, packaging and testing. Support Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Dongguan and other places to plan and construct distinctive optical chip professional parks based on semiconductor and integrated circuit industry clusters.
Cultivate leading enterprises and strengthen collaborative innovation
Guangdong will introduce a group of leading enterprises and new species enterprises that gather global resources and occupy a leading position in segmented fields. Support conditional optical chip companies to conduct mergers and acquisitions around key links in the industrial chain. Explore collaborative research and development between industry, academia, and research, as well as joint research and development between upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, to incubate and cultivate a group of technology-based startups. Encourage leading semiconductor and integrated circuit companies to leverage their industrial foundation advantages and extend their layout in the field of optical chips. Support leading optical chip enterprises to increase their research and development and production line layout in Guangdong, and accelerate the formation of optical chip industry clusters. Support foreign-funded optical chip enterprises to layout and construct various
platforms such as enterprise technology centers, engineering research centers, and engineering technology research centers.
The Action Plan points out that Guangdong actively connects with the national integrated circuit strategic layout and strives to land a number of national level optical chip projects in Guangdong. Strengthen collaborative innovation with higher education institutions and research institutes in Hong Kong and Macau, and connect with high-quality scientific and technological achievements, innovative talents, and financial capital. Strengthen exchanges and cooperation with advanced domestic enterprises and institutions in the Beijing Tianjin Hebei and Yangtze River Delta regions, and enhance the introduction of high-quality research and development resources and industrial resources. Establish exchange and cooperation mechanisms with various innovative entities such as internationally renowned universities, research and development institutions, and technology transfer institutions.
Strengthening and supplementing chains, cultivating cutting-edge technologies
Tackle key materials and equipment for optical chips. We strongly support the research and development of key materials for optical chips, such as silicon optical materials, compound semiconductors, thin film lithium niobate, gallium oxide thin films, electro-optic polymers, flexible substrate materials, metasurface materials, optical sensing materials, electro-optic topological phase change materials, photoresists, quartz crystals, etc. Vigorously promote the research and development of key optical chip equipment such as etching machines, bonding machines, epitaxial growth equipment, and optical vector parameter network testers, as well as their localization and replacement. We strongly support the research and industrialization of optical components such as transceiver modules, modulators, reconfigurable optical neural network inference devices, PLC splitters, AWG gratings, and core components of optical modules. Support the research and continuous optimization of optical chip related manufacturing processes such as silicon photonics integration, heterogeneous integration, epitaxial growth and epitaxial processes, and manufacturing processes.
Strengthen the design, research and development, manufacturing layout, and packaging level of optical chips. Support optical chip design enterprises to strengthen research and industrialization layout in areas such as optical communication interconnect transceiver chips, FP/DFB/EML/VCSEL laser chips, PIN/APD detection chips, shortwave infrared organic imaging chips, TOF/FMCW laser radar chips, 3D visual perception chips, etc. Increase the production line and capacity layout of optical chips, optical modules, and optical devices based on silicon-based, germanium based, compound semiconductors, thin-film lithium niobate and other platform materials, as well as heterogeneous integration of various materials and multifunctional optoelectronic fusion. Vigorously developing advanced packaging technologies such as on-chip integration, 3D stacking, co packaging of optical devices and chips (CPO), and optical I/O interfaces, closely following market demand to promote the upgrading of optical chip packaging and testing process technology and enhance capabilities.
Strengthen the demonstration and application of optical chip products. We strongly support the scenario demonstration and product application of optical chips in industries such as next-generation information and communication, data centers, intelligent computing centers, biomedicine, and intelligent connected vehicles. Cultivate more application scenarios, increase the application of optical chip products in information transmission, detection, sensing and other fields, and promote the upgrading and replacement of semiconductor products in related fields.
Carry out basic research and development layout around cutting-edge theoretical and technological issues of optical chips. Support enterprises, universities, research institutions, and other organizations to focus on the research and development layout of technology fields such as optical neural network chips, photonic quantum chips, ultra sensitive optical sensing detection chips, optoelectronic heterogeneous hybrid integrated chips, microcavity optoelectronic chips, and power growth computing power optical chips, striving to achieve original breakthroughs, original technology accumulation, and pioneering breakthroughs.
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