Yang Mei

595383341@qq.com

ON Wednesday evening, around 40 Chinese and expat residents gathered at the Nanshan International Cultural Exchange & Service Center (NSIC) in Zhaoshang Subdistrict to gain insights from biotech and semiconductor specialists while expanding their professional networks.

Co-organized by the NSIC and InterNations, a leading global community for expats, the “Business Networking and Mixer” event was split into two parts. The first part included two lectures — “The Rise of Semiconductors” by Jurgen Geerlings and “Biotech in Shenzhen Incubation” by Mauro Rubin. A networking mixer followed.

Geerlings, from the Netherlands, has 35 years of experience as a semiconductor system architect at Philips, Sony, NXP, and Huawei. He also holds over 25 patents. During his lecture, he shared insights into the semiconductor industry and provided an overview of semiconductors, including how they work, their applications, and how they are manufactured. Geerlings also discussed the status quo of semiconductor fabrication plants and the market share and evolution of the semiconductor AI supply chain.

Pointing out the financial risks of investing in semiconductor factories, Geerlings said, “A 7nm factory costs US$10 billion and must become profitable within three years. Therefore, most companies only design semiconductor products and contract foundries to produce their designs.”

Rubin, CEO and founder of Nexus Group SRL (Milan) and Almatech (Shenzhen), introduced his company, an investment firm that focuses on deep tech and biotechnology.

Nexus operates two incubators — Nova Nexus, which focuses on deep tech, and Almatech, which is dedicated to the biotech sector.

According to Rubin, Almatech’s ambitious goals include establishing the largest international biotech incubator in China and building the largest international talent hub in China.

Rubin praised the event as an opportunity that spreads new ideas, inspires people, and helps them bond. “The event was a positive surprise. Many people came, and today all of them have made at least 30 new friends,” he said.

American Ben Z. Orenstein, the ambassador for InterNations Shenzhen, has worked in business for over 40 years and lived in Shenzhen for more than 10 years.

Orenstein believes that there is no substitute for face-to-face communication.

Discussing future plans for InterNations events in the city with Shenzhen Daily, he said, “We will keep it once a month. If it’s good, maybe we'll do it twice a month.”