Editing by Kate Yuan

Leading Chinese ODM Wingtech (闻泰科技) launched automobile-grade IC research center with Tsinghua University on January 7 on Tsinghua campus.

Wingtech chairman Zhang Xuezheng and Tsinghua University Vice President Zeng Rong addressed the opening ceremony.

The full name of the research center is “Tsinghua University-Wingtech Joint Research Center on Industrial and Automotive Chip (清华大学-闻泰科技工业与车规半导体芯片联合研究中心).” Zeng Rong said “Tsinghua University attaches great importance to the IC discipline, gathering more talents to focus on the core technologies. The joint research center is crucial for tackling the key technologies in automotive chips and giving play to the advantages of both parties.”

Tsinghua officially established the School of Integrated Circuits on April 22, 2021. Zhang Xuezheng commented, “The school has world-class scientific research environments, world-leading faculty, and outstanding students. Wingtech and our subsidiary Nexperia own cutting-edge innovative technologies, future-oriented industrial directions, and huge product lines and customer base.  This move will set a good example for the cooperation between companies and universities.”

Zhang added that the semiconductor industry is in the post-Moore era, and automotive semiconductors could be the backbone of the third wave of semiconductors.

According to Zhang, the UK-headquartered Nexperia is the world's leading automotive semiconductor company and Wingtech acquired it from NXP in March 2019 with extensive product lines and customer base, strong R&D investment, and increased wafers and packaging and testing capacity. “We will increase Nexperia's R&D input from 9% to 15%. Over 2,500 new R&D engineers will join us globally,” he said.

Meanwhile, Wingtech’s newly built 12-inch automotive-grade chip fab in Shanghai’s Lingang new IC industry park will come into service this year. Zhang said that it would strongly guarantee Nexperia’s capacity in the future. The company’s production capacity in the UK, Germany, Malaysia, and the Philippines will also be increased in response to the rising demands in automotive IC, industrial and consumer markets.