By Xin Wu
The two-year suspension of the rotten semiconductor project "Chengdu Gexin" has finally ushered in the receiver.
According to Gemini, a number of industry insiders, Chengdu Gaozhen Technology will take over the Chengdu Municipal Government's investment of 7 billion yuan in the construction of the plant for the core, and on this basis to build DRAM production lines.
Ge core that Grofound. 2017 the world's second largest wafer manufacturer Grofound, in Chengdu officially launched the construction of 12-inch wafer manufacturing base, with a total investment of more than $ 10 billion. The factory was built after the business that is close to shutdown, May 17, 2019 announced the closure.
The receiver, Chengdu Gaozhen Technology Limited, was established on September 28, 2020, and the legal representative and actual beneficiary, Choi Jin-seok, is the former vice president of SK Hynix and the former chief researcher of Samsung Electronics Technology Development Department. It is reported that there are only two South Korea can have a full semiconductor field from R & D to mass production experience of the patriarch, Choi Jin-seok is one of them.
DRAM chip market monopoly is extremely high, basically by Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron three divided, and the competition is brutal, suppression of rivals phenomenon is very serious. China's DRAM chip is in the beginning stage from 0 to 1, if the success of the takeover, the domestic market will be a very big favor.
The enterprise check information shows that the Chengdu High True Technology Co., Ltd. registered capital of 5,109.1 million yuan, there are two shareholders: Chengdu Semiconductor Co., Ltd. to contribute 3,065.46 million yuan, 60% of the shareholding; true core (Beijing) Semiconductor Co., Ltd. to contribute 2,043.64 million yuan, 40% of the shareholding.
Among them, Chengdu Semiconductor was founded on September 28, 2020, 100% owned by Chengdu Hi-Tech Zone Electronic Industry Information Development Co., Ltd. and the actual beneficiary is He Zhaofeng, CEO of NEXT Venture Space.
True Core (Beijing), another company of Jen-Seok Choi, was founded on November 14, 2019, and is 100% owned by Xi'an Xinlong Hongxin Technology Service Co.
Choi Jin-seok can be called a veteran of the South Korean semiconductor industry, serving as a chief researcher and managing director of Samsung Electronics' Technology Development Department and a specialized director and vice president of SK Hynix Semiconductors, among others, as well as having served as a faculty member at a number of universities.
He jumped from Samsung to SK Hynix at the beginning of this century, when Hynix was on the verge of bankruptcy, Choi Jin-seok led the technical team under the leadership of the company's R&D capabilities in less than 2 years to enhance the company's research and development capabilities to the same level as Samsung to bring Hynix back to life, which is a classic of the history of semiconductor development in Korea.
From the information available, Choi Jin-seok has a great interest in China's semiconductor market, and once said in an interview with domestic media in 2018, "The Korean semiconductor industry has felt the progress of China. Although South Korean companies are larger and have stronger overall technological strength, China's pace is clearly moving faster."
In 2019, Choi Jin-seok established True Core (Beijing) Semiconductor LLC in China. Enterprise Search data shows that True Core has applied for 43 patents related to wafer fabrication, all the technology is True Core Semiconductor and the Chinese Academy of Sciences microelectronics research and development, two of the patents are directly related to DRAM chips.
According to Gigabit, Zenith has also attracted SK HAN and YH KOH as COO and CTO respectively, SK HAN has 35 years of semiconductor industry experience, and has served as the head of Samsung's manufacturing division, 9Line PJT, and as the head of the manufacturing division of SK Hynix M8/M9. YH KOH served as the head of the manufacturing division of SK Hynix NAND/M9, and as the head of the manufacturing division of SK HYDOM. Mobile&Graphic DRAM development department GM.
When Glorfonds announced its Chengdu plant, the news rocked the semiconductor world.
Around 2017 and 2018 coincided with the good development of China's integrated circuit industry, the central and local governments have introduced supportive policies, and for a time the whole country has set off a wave of core-making fever.
As a major town in the central and western parts of China, Chengdu has attracted the layout of Intel, Texas Instruments, SuperMicro Semiconductor, MediaTek, Spreadtrum and other enterprises, forming a complete industrial chain of design, manufacturing and packaging and testing.
Gechip started construction of a 12-inch wafer manufacturing base in Chengdu. The factory is scheduled to be carried out in two phases. The first phase of the 12-inch factory will introduce the 0.18/0.13μm process from the Singapore plant, which is expected to be put into production in the fourth quarter of 2018; the second phase will introduce the 22nm FD-SOI process, which is expected to be put into production in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The Chengdu government invested $7 billion in GeSilicon's factory construction, responsible for the construction of the plant, supporting facilities, and the formation of the R&D, operations, and logistics teams. However, the total investment size is cumulatively over $10 billion, of which infrastructure is $9.3 billion and the rest is infrastructure and ecosystem construction.
Unlike most wafer fabrication companies that use the FinFET process, Gechip chose the FD-SOI process, which is much cheaper to design and manufacture, and is useful in areas such as the Internet of Things (IoT), wearables, automotive, network infrastructure and machine learning, and consumer multimedia.
However, the development of the FD-SOI process was limited by an underdeveloped ecosystem, which left much to be desired in terms of IP construction, mass production experience, and application promotion.
The FD-SOI process is limited by the lack of a well-developed ecosystem, the lack of IP construction, the lack of mass production experience, and the lack of application promotion.
Ge-X operated 11 fabs globally (5 8-inch and 6 12-inch), of which 4 8-inch fabs were located in Singapore (formerly Chartered Semiconductor) and 1 was located in the US (formerly IBM); 2 12-inch fabs were located in Singapore (formerly Chartered Semiconductor, with one of them upgraded to an 8-inch fab), 2 were located in the US (with one formerly IBM), and 2 12-inch fabs were located in Germany (formerly AMD's FAB), and 2 12-inch fabs were located in Chengdu. Germany (formerly AMD's FAB 36 and FAB 38, now collectively known as FAB1), the process node from 0.6μm ~ 14nm.
The general manager of business operations in Singapore is also CEO of the Chengdu plant, and since many of the Singapore plant managers are of Chinese descent, they are already preparing to support Gexin Chengdu's start-up with local customers, processes, and talent.
However, less than two years after building the factory Gexin stopped.
On May 17, 2019 Chengdu Gexin issued three copies of the Notice on Human Resource Optimization Policies and Suspension of Work and Business. In the notice, Chengdu Gexin said, "In view of the current status of the company's operations, the company will officially stop working and business on the date of this notice."
For the subsequent compensation arrangements for the only remaining 74 employees, the notice said, in June 14, 2020 and before the departure, Ge-Xin will be paid according to the wage standard stipulated in the labor contract. June 15 and later, according to not less than 70% of the minimum wage standard in Chengdu City, the payment of basic living expenses.
For employees whose contracts expire on or before July 18, Ge-Xin will also not renew their labor contracts and pay economic compensation (N). employees whose contracts expire on or after July 19 will receive N+1 economic compensation, and if they sign an agreement to terminate their labor contracts before May 19, 2020, at 5:30 p.m., Ge-Xin will pay an additional 1 month's salary as an incentive for signing the agreement.
The rotten status quo and Gexin's parent company are inseparable.
Ge-Xin was initially AMD's wafer fabrication division, due to poor management in 2008, AMD sold it to the United Arab Emirates investment company ATIC, after the reorganization of the company is now Ge-Xin.
In the ten years since then, Ge-X has been in a loss-making situation, with poor wafer fabrication processes, low yields, and reliance on its parent company, ATIC, for blood transfusions. Since its inception, ATIC has injected nearly $30 billion into Vivante, but Vivante's net profit has been negative. The person at the helm is also constantly changing, less than 10 years for four CEOs.
Chengdu to build a factory is the third CEO Sanjay Jha's decision, Ge-Xin first negotiated with the Chongqing Municipal Government in 2016, but in the same year exploded large-scale losses, the negotiations were unsuccessful, and then signed a contract with Chengdu.Sanjay Jha's development strategy is more aggressive, in addition to the construction of a factory in Chengdu, but also a new New York factory, Acquisition of IBM microelectronics business, research and development of 7nm, but in office during the loss is very large, a record average annual loss of more than 1 billion U.S. dollars.
The fourth CEO, Thomas Caulfield, began to massively cut business lines after taking office, and the cooperation with China has changed course. in June 2018, Ge-Xin global layoffs, Chengdu plant recruitment was suspended; in October 2018, Ge-Xin signed an amendment to the investment agreement with the Chengdu government, canceling the 180nm/130nm project originally planned to be introduced from Singapore.
Under the pressure of many parties, Ge-Xin's Chengdu project was announced to be shut down. But the plant has been built, because the price of the equipment is too high and the infrastructure itself has a problem with the suspension of nearly 17 months no one to take over. If Gao Zhen Technology succeeds in taking over, the Chengdu government and the domestic chip market may be favorable.
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