National Information Optoelectronics Innovation Center Officially Inaugurated: The Journey to Strengthen China's Optical Communication "Chip" Industry Sets Sail
Facing the upcoming Fourth Industrial Revolution, it has become unprecedentedly important to drive the development of China's information optoelectronics industry through independent innovation and lay the foundation for the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry. On April 26, the National Information Optoelectronics Innovation Center was officially inaugurated at FiberHome Technologies in Wuhan, becoming one of the second batch of innovation centers officially authorized under "Made in China 2025" and the first national manufacturing innovation center obtained by Hubei Province.
The Time Is Ripe to Establish a Complete Optoelectronics Industry System
The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed that innovation should serve as the strategic support for building a modernized economic system, that we should aim at the forefront of world science and technology, strengthen basic research, enhance applied basic research, and highlight innovations in key generic technologies, frontier-leading technologies, modern engineering technologies, and disruptive technologies. Meanwhile, as an important engine of the national economy, the scale and efficiency of the digital economy continue to improve. In 2016, the scale of China's digital economy, with the Internet as an important carrier, reached RMB 22.4 trillion, accounting for more than 30.1% of GDP. As a vital link for industry development, ICT is accelerating its systematic integration with various industries.
As the "heart" of optical communication systems, information optoelectronics can be regarded as the core and cornerstone of ICT. It is also a key industry that, following microelectronics, will once again drive the advancement of human science and technology. It will play an important role in the future development of optical storage, optical display, optical interconnection, optical computing, as well as healthcare, aerospace, and national defense. Major developed countries around the world are accelerating their scientific research and industrial layout. It is estimated that by 2020, the global information optoelectronics-related industry chain is expected to exceed USD 1.3 trillion, indicating broad and far-reaching prospects for the industry.
On the other hand, the arrival of the Fourth Industrial Revolution will trigger digital and intelligent transformation across the entire society and all industries. On May 8, 2015, "Made in China 2025" was officially issued, with the new-generation information technology industry listed as one of its ten key areas. Centered around national strategies such as "Internet+", "Broadband China", intelligent manufacturing, smart cities, and information security, the high-end optoelectronic chip manufacturing and advanced integrated packaging technologies required for emerging optoelectronic application fields must take the lead.
"Core technologies are the nation's most important assets." General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the National Conference on Cybersecurity and Informatization held on April 20, 2018, "We must be determined, persistent, and focused, and accelerate breakthroughs in core technologies in the information field."
While recognizing the broad prospects of the information optoelectronics industry, we must clearly understand that China has not yet achieved fundamental breakthroughs in core technology areas—it is "large" but not "strong," and informatization development remains constrained. In contrast, the United States is vigorously developing integrated optoelectronics manufacturing innovation centers. As of this year, it has built 14 manufacturing innovation centers, among which the American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics (AIM) has invested over USD 600 million and has more than 124 members. Whether from the perspective of boosting manufacturing transformation and upgrading or gaining new advantages in global competition, accelerating breakthroughs in core technologies, mastering intellectual property, and establishing a complete and systematic optoelectronics industry system is indeed a matter of urgency.
National Information Optoelectronics Innovation Center Officially Inaugurated
Carrying the strategic mission of solving the "collaborative R&D of key and generic technologies" in China's information optoelectronics manufacturing industry and achieving "first commercialization," the National Information Optoelectronics Innovation Center was officially inaugurated.
Based on Hubei's complete industrial and technological talent advantages in information optoelectronics, the National Information Optoelectronics Innovation Center was ultimately established in Wuhan. From 2016 to 2017, the sales scale of optoelectronics enterprises in Wuhan exceeded RMB 1 trillion, making it the largest optoelectronics information industry cluster in China. As the leading unit of the innovation center, Accelink Technologies, a subsidiary of FiberHome Technologies, is a leading optoelectronics enterprise ranked first in China and among the top five globally. It has undertaken more than 130 national-level projects including the 863 Program, 973 Program, and the National Science and Technology Support Program, and has formulated more than 100 national and industry standards. Meanwhile, Wuhan is home to 42 institutions of higher learning and 56 national and provincial-level scientific research institutes, boasting a mature talent pool of more than 60 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering, as well as a full-industry-chain workforce from R&D personnel to technical workers.
The National Information Optoelectronics Innovation Center was established on the basis of the Hubei Provincial Information Optoelectronics Innovation Center. In October 2016, as a supporting project for Hubei Province's strategy to build a strong manufacturing province, the Hubei Provincial Information Optoelectronics Innovation Center, led by Accelink Technologies, was officially established. The center was built on the principle of "enterprises as the main body, market-oriented, with deep integration of industry, academia, research, application, and finance." In July 2017, the seminar on the "Information Optoelectronics Manufacturing Innovation Center" plan was successfully held at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, where 11 academicians and relevant experts from the domestic information optoelectronics industry, along with shareholder units and co-construction units, gathered for lively discussions. On October 18, 2017, the expert demonstration meeting on the construction plan of the National Information Optoelectronics Innovation Center was held in Beijing. The attending experts conducted in-depth discussions on the positioning, functions, operating mechanisms, and construction goals of the center, and unanimously agreed that Wuhan, Hubei possesses the advantages and conditions for building the National Information Optoelectronics Innovation Center, approving the construction plan. Subsequently, the center received official approval from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
According to C114, the National Information Optoelectronics Innovation Center has established a modern corporate legal person system, fully leveraging the role of the market in resource allocation. The center currently operates with an "Innovation Center Headquarters, Chip Technology Department, Device Technology Department, and Integrated Optoelectronics Department." Relying on Accelink Technologies' leading chip platform and two major technology platforms—the State Key Laboratory of Optical Communication Technologies and Networks—the center has established an optoelectronic chip process platform and an optoelectronic integrated R&D platform (silicon photonics platform and high-end device verification platform), forming a high-end process and testing technology platform covering material growth, chip back-end processing, photonic integration, optoelectronic integration, and high-speed system hardware testing.
At the same time, the National Information Optoelectronics Innovation Center has established a committee comprising 10 academician experts and 17 industry experts, and has established market-oriented project operation and management mechanisms, intellectual property ownership, and technology commercialization mechanisms. Since its establishment, it has implemented silicon photonics technology transfer and diffusion, demonstrating strong innovation capabilities in III-V high-end optoelectronic chip technology and processes, silicon photonics integrated chip design and testing, and high-speed optical system design and verification, exerting a significant impact on technological innovation in the information optoelectronics industry.
The Journey to Strengthen China's Optical Communication "Chip" Industry Officially Sets Sail
The official authorization of the National Information Optoelectronics Innovation Center marks the center's full transition into substantive operation and symbolizes the official commencement of the journey to strengthen China's optical communication "chip" industry.
Looking ahead, the National Information Optoelectronics Innovation Center is committed to pooling superior industry innovation resources to build an information optoelectronics industry innovation platform, focusing on achieving breakthroughs in key and generic technology bottlenecks in high-end material growth, core chip processes, and advanced packaging and integration for information optoelectronics application fields such as next-generation networks, data center optical interconnection, 5G, and access networks.
The innovation center strives to build a world-class information optoelectronics manufacturing innovation platform within 3-5 years, increasing the domestic supply rate of core optoelectronic chips and devices to over 30%; and by 2025, it aims to achieve independent controllability of core optoelectronic chips and devices. Through government guidance, enterprise leadership, and support from universities and research institutions, it will aggregate superior industry resources to form a win-win innovation ecosystem of "industry, academia, research, application, and finance," connecting the innovation chain of advanced manufacturing technology from basic research to applied research, first commercialization, and large-scale production, and promoting the transformation of key industry generic technologies into large-scale, cost-effective manufacturing capabilities.
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