Xia Yuanjie

szrbgracexia@126.com

THE organizational structure and operating mechanism of the newly approved State 5G Medium- and High-frequency Components Innovation Center has been introduced at a recent press conference held by Shenzhen’s industry and information technology bureau in Futian District.

The center is the second State-level manufacturing industry innovation center in the city.

Yu Xiquan, Party chief of the bureau, said at the conference that Shenzhen has four advantages in developing 5G components technologies, namely abundant technological accumulation, a huge applications market, a solid network foundation and a large number of 5G related patents. “Shenzhen is the country’s first city having full stand-alone 5G coverage and the largest application market of communication medium- and high-frequency components. The city’s number of 5G patent applications accounts for 34 percent of the world’s total,” he said.

5G components of medium- and high-frequency, also known as mid- and high-band spectrum, are radio frequency (RF) components used in the 5G mid-band Sub-6GHz spectrum and the high-band millimeter wave spectrum, such as power amplifiers, filters, RF switches, low noise amplifiers, RF transceivers, etc.

The mid- and high-frequency components play a determining role in the delivery of 5G services and the speed and range of coverage. Currently, overseas companies comprise the top five suppliers of global mobile phone RF front-end components, occupying 97 percent of the global market share. The RF front-end devices deployed in China’s 5G cellphones are mainly imported.

The innovation center intends to break up such a monopoly. It will be based on Shenzhen Hatchip Communication Technologies Co. Ltd., a national high and new technology company that was jointly set up by 29 leading industrial chain companies covering sectors of communications core components, materials, antennas and terminals.

The Futian-based company will also cooperate with the 5G Technology and Industry Association which is composed of over 400 leading technology companies and universities, and over half of the State-level innovation platforms, to jointly devote efforts toward research and development (R&D), supply, transfer, dissemination and first commercialization of cutting-edge and generic technologies in 5G and mobile communication medium- and high-frequency components fields.

“Innovators and investors routinely claim that a ‘Valley of Death’ exists between basic research and commercialization of a new product. Underinvestment in R&D is a common cause of this phenomenon. The primary task of the innovation center is to bridge R&D and industrialization over the ‘Valley of Death,’” said Fan Xiaobing, general manager of Hatchip.

To build up an R&D, pilot and test platform for the mass production technology of GaN-on-silicon radio RF and millimeter wave is a core goal of the innovation center. The institution will integrate resources of the industry chain and provide component enterprises with research achievements and services to encourage the process from the pilot to mass production, in a bid to reduce the latter’s expenditure in R&D, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, and accelerate the first commercialization of technological achievements.

In the event, Fan Yonghui, a researcher of Hatchip, introduced to the press the company’s latest pilot results of the GaN-on-silicon mass production. “An 8-inch GaN-on-silicon HEMT wafer is a combination of a base of silicon, of which manufacturing is very mature, and GaN (Gallium nitride), which is a third-generation semiconductor with high frequency, power and efficiency. An installment of the wafer as a power amplifier in 5G base stations enables 5G signals to reach further. Meanwhile, for companies, mass production expenses of the wafer are cheap as the silicon base processing is mature,” he said.

Additionally, the innovation center will cultivate talents in the industry by holding 5G industry research conferences and establishing a talents internship base.

In recent years, China has found it increasingly important to raise the country’s manufacturing industries up to the medium-high end of the global value chain by founding State-level manufacturing industry innovation centers. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology plans to build about 40 manufacturing innovation centers at the national level by 2025, and thus far 21 of them have been approved to be constructed.