Author | Wu Xin
The unfinished semiconductor project "Chengdu GlobalFoundries" that has been idle for two years finally has a takeover.
According to Jiwei.com, many industry insiders said that Chengdu Gaozhen Technology will take over the factory built by the Chengdu government for GF with an investment of 7 billion yuan, and build a DRAM production line on this basis.
GLOBALFOUNDRIES is GlobalFoundries. In 2017, GlobalFoundries, the world's second largest wafer manufacturer, officially launched the construction of a 12-inch wafer manufacturing base in Chengdu, with a total investment of more than US$10 billion. After the completion of the factory, the business came to a close, and the company announced its closure on May 17, 2019.
The successor, Chengdu Gaozhen Technology Co., Ltd., was established on September 28, 2020. The legal representative and actual beneficiary Cui Zhenshi is the former vice chairman of SK Hynix and the former chief researcher of Samsung Electronics Technology Development Department. It is reported that there are currently only two veterans in South Korea who have experience in the entire semiconductor field from research and development to mass production, and Choi Jin-seok is one of them.
The DRAM chip market is highly monopolized and is basically divided between Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron. The competition is brutal and the phenomenon of suppressing opponents is very serious. Our country's DRAM chips are in the initial stage from 0 to 1. If the acquisition is successful, it will be a great benefit to the domestic market.
Qichacha data shows that Chengdu Gaozhen Technology Co., Ltd. has a registered capital of 5.1091 billion yuan and currently has two shareholders: Chengdu Semiconductor Co., Ltd. invested 3.06546 billion yuan and holds 60 shares; Zhenxin (Beijing) Semiconductor Co., Ltd. invested 2.04364 billion yuan and held 40 shares.
Among them, Chengdu Jiji was established on September 28, 2020, and is held by Chengdu High-tech Zone Electronic Industry Information Development Co., Ltd. 100. The actual beneficiary is He Zhaofeng, CEO of NEXT Entrepreneurship Space.
Zhenxin (Beijing) is another company of Cui Zhenxi. It was established on November 14, 2019 and is 100% owned by Xi'an Xinlong Hongxin Technology Service Co., Ltd.
Choi Jin-seok can be called a veteran figure in the Korean semiconductor industry. He has served as chief researcher and executive director of Samsung Electronics Technology Development Department and executive director and vice president of SK Hynix Semiconductor. He has also served as a professor in many universities. job.
It was at the beginning of this century when he switched jobs from Samsung to SK Hynix. At that time, Hynix was on the verge of bankruptcy. Choi Jin-seok led his technical team to improve the company's R&D capabilities to the same level as Samsung in less than 2 years, making Hynix Lux's resurrection is a classic in the history of Korean semiconductor development.
Judging from the available information, Choi Jin-seok has a great interest in China’s semiconductor market. In an interview with domestic media in 2018, he said, “The Korean semiconductor industry has felt China’s progress. Although Korean companies are larger in scale and have stronger comprehensive technical strength, but China is obviously moving faster."
In 2019, Cui Zhenshi established Zhenxin (Beijing) Semiconductor Co., Ltd. in China. Qichacha data shows that Zhenxin has applied for 43 wafer manufacturing-related patents. All technologies are jointly developed by Zhenxin Semiconductor and the Chinese Academy of Sciences Microelectronics. Two of the patents are directly related to DRAM chips.
According to Jiwei.com, Zhenxin has also recruited two generals, SK HAN and YH KOH, to serve as COO and CTO respectively. SK HAN has 35 years of experience in the semiconductor industry. He has served as the head of 9Line PJT, Samsung's manufacturing department, and the head of SK Hynix's M8/M9 manufacturing department. YH KOH served as the GM of SK Hynix's NAND/Mobileamp; Graphic DRAM development department.
When GlobalFoundries announced the establishment of a factory in Chengdu, the news caused a sensation in the entire semiconductor industry.
Around 2017 and 2018, my country's integrated circuit industry was developing well. The central and local governments introduced supportive policies, and a wave of core manufacturing fever was set off across the country.
As an important town in the central and western parts of my country, Chengdu has attracted companies such as Intel, Texas Instruments, Advanced Micro Devices, MediaTek, and Spreadtrum to form a complete industrial chain of design, manufacturing, packaging and testing.
GlobalFoundries has started construction of a 12-inch wafer manufacturing base in Chengdu. The factory is planned to be built in two phases. The first phase of the 12-inch factory will introduce the 0.18/0.13μm process from the Singapore factory and is expected to be put into production in the fourth quarter of 2018; the second phase will introduce the 22nm FD-SOI process and is expected to be put into production in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The Chengdu government invested 7 billion yuan in building a factory for GLOBALFOUNDRIES, responsible for the construction of factories and supporting facilities and the establishment of R&D, operations, and logistics teams. However, the total investment scale has exceeded US$10 billion, of which US$9.3 billion is for infrastructure, and the rest is infrastructure and ecological chain construction.
Unlike most wafer manufacturing companies that use the FinFET process, GLOBALFOUNDRIES chooses the FD-SOI process, which has lower design and manufacturing costs and is widely used in the Internet of Things, wearable devices, automobiles, network infrastructure and machines. It is very useful in fields such as learning and consumer multimedia.
However, the development of FD-SOI technology is limited by the incomplete ecosystem, and the IP construction, mass production experience and application promotion are not satisfactory. Therefore, GF was interested in building an FD-SOI ecological chain with the Chengdu government at that time, hoping that Chinese chip design companies could adopt SOI technology to quickly promote market maturity.
GlobalFoundries was operating 11 wafer fabs around the world (5 8-inch fabs, 6 12-inch fabs). Among them, 4 8-inch wafer fabs were located in Singapore (formerly Chartered Semiconductor), and 1 was located in Singapore. The United States (formerly IBM); 2 12-inch wafer fabs are located in Singapore (formerly Chartered Semiconductor, one of which is an 8-inch upgrade), 2 are located in the United States (1 is the original IBM), and 2 12-inch fabs are located in Germany ( The original AMD FAB 36 and FAB 38 are now collectively referred to as FAB1), with process nodes ranging from 0.6μm to 14nm.
The general manager of Singapore business operations is also the CEO of the Chengdu factory. Since many of the managers of the Singapore factory are Chinese, they are already preparing to use local customers, technology, and talents to support GF Chengdu's start-up.
However, GLOBALFOUNDRIES shut down less than two years after its establishment.
On May 17, 2019, Chengdu GF issued three "Notices on Human Resources Optimization Policies and Suspension and Suspension of Business." In the notice, Chengdu GLOBALFOUNDRIES said, "In view of the company's operating status, the company will officially suspend work and business from the date of this notice."
Regarding the subsequent compensation arrangements for the remaining 74 employees, the notice stated that those who resigned on or before June 14, 2020, GF will pay wages according to the wage standards stipulated in the labor contract. On June 15 and after, basic living expenses will be paid at no less than 70% of the Chengdu minimum wage standard.
For employees whose contracts expire on or before July 18, GF will not renew their labor contracts and pay economic compensation (N). Employees whose contracts expire on or after July 19 will receive N1 economic compensation. If a labor contract termination agreement is signed before 5:30 pm on May 19, 2020, GF will also pay an additional month's salary. As a signing bonus.
The unfinished situation is inseparable from the parent company of GLOBALFOUNDRIES.
GlobalFoundries was originally the wafer manufacturing department of AMD. Due to poor management, AMD sold it to ATIC, an investment company in the United Arab Emirates, in 2008. The reorganized company is now GlobalFoundries.
In the following ten years, GLOBALFOUNDRIES has been in a state of loss, with poor wafer manufacturing technology and low yield, all relying on the blood transfusion of parent company ATIC. Since its establishment, ATIC has injected nearly US$30 billion into GF, but GF’s net profit has always been negative. The people at the helm are also constantly changing, with 4 CEOs in less than 10 years.
The decision to build a factory in Chengdu was the decision of Sanjay Jha, the third CEO. GF first negotiated with the Chongqing Municipal Government in 2016, but suffered massive losses in the same year and the negotiations failed, and then signed a contract with Chengdu. Sanjay Jha's development strategy is relatively radical. In addition to building a factory in Chengdu, he also built a new New York factory, acquired IBM's microelectronics business, and developed 7nm. However, he suffered huge losses during his tenure, setting a record of an average annual loss of more than US$1 billion.
After the fourth CEO Thomas Caulfield took office, he began to cut business lines on a large scale, and his cooperation with China also changed. In June 2018, GF laid off employees globally and suspended recruitment at the Chengdu factory. In October 2018, GF signed an amendment to the investment agreement with the Chengdu government, canceling the 180nm/130nm project originally planned to be introduced from Singapore.
Under pressure from many parties, GlobalFoundries’ Chengdu project announced its closure. However, the factory has been built, but because the equipment prices are too high and the infrastructure itself has problems, it has been shut down for nearly 17 months with no one to take over. If Gaozhen Technology successfully takes over, it may be good for the Chengdu government and the domestic chip market.
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