Peking University joins China’s semiconductor push with new school dedicated to chips
- The School of Integrated Circuits at Peking University was inaugurated on Thursday in Beijing
- Chinese universities are scrambling to set up chip schools to halt a top-level brain drain, which has set back semiconductor self-sufficiency efforts
China’s prestigious Peking University has set up a semiconductor school to train chip engineers and technicians, joining a nationwide frenzy to create new chip colleges as part of Beijing’s drive to boost semiconductor self-sufficiency.
The School of Integrated Circuits at Peking University was inaugurated on Thursday in Beijing, only one day after Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) unveiled a specialist semiconductor college in Wuhan. HUST has produced some of the country’s top technology students, grabbing nationwide attention this year after six of its top graduates received offers from Huawei Technologies Co with annual packages as big as 2 million yuan (US$309,000).
Meanwhile, Tsinghua University created a semiconductor college in April, leveraging its strengths in science and engineering.
The new school at Peking University will train semiconductor engineers in integrated circuit design and manufacturing and team up with the country’s chip companies to support the development of China’s fledgling chip industry. Hao Ping, dean of Peking University, said during the inaugural ceremony he hopes that the school will strengthen cooperation with companies in the semiconductor field to create an “innovation community”, according to a statement from the school.
Chinese universities are scrambling to set up chip schools to halt a top-level brain drain, which has seen many of the country’s top graduates leave for overseas studies or work, setting back domestic development of cutting-edge semiconductor technology.