Editing by Li Panpan

Shanghai Industrial Technology Research Institute (SITRI) and SAIC Motor jointly launched the Shanghai Automotive IC Engineering Center on January 27^th intending to become an industrial highland of China's automotive IC  development within five years.

A signing ceremony was held by the two parties on Thursday. The new center will replicate SITRI’s successful model of the pilot R&D platform and entrepreneurial ecosystem while meeting SAIC Motor’s demands and tapping into its resources.

SITRI was established in 2013, founded by forces from government and science research bodies, has maintained a dynamic and market-oriented R&D platform integrating research, engineering, and production. It has the first 8-inch “More than Moore” R&D pilot line in China. Its founding members are the Shanghai Scientific & Technological Committee, Jiading District of Shanghai，SIMIT of China Academy of Sciences – the famous R&D institution in Shanghai with its history traced to the pre-1949 revolution in 1928.

SITRI said it will, together with SAIC Motor,  establish a multi-billion-dollar "special fund for domestic automotive IC" to connect valuable resources and promote the automotive-grade self-developed MCU to ensure that the automotive industry chain and supply chain are self-sufficient

As China’s leading automotive manufacturer, SAIC Motor has ambitious plans to invest RMB300 billion ($47.2 billion) in innovative fields such as smart electric vehicles from 2021 to 2025.

SAIC has been the vehicle sales leader in China -  No. 1 in 2021 for 16 consecutive years, including its sales of new energy vehicles being the first in China and the second in the world.

Recently, a press conference held by the Shanghai Municipal Government pointed out that by the end of 2025, the output of new energy vehicles in Shanghai will exceed 1.2 million, and the output value will exceed RMB350 billion ($55 billion), and Shanghai is doing its work to solve the problem of chip shortage.