Guiding Chip Innovators Through China’s Nascent IP System
Translating Chinese state media’s perspective on semiconductors
Chip Capitols’ off-week deep-dive into Chinese media takes us to Wuxi (无锡), a large city near Shanghai, boasting China’s second-largest semiconductor industry cluster. The Wuxi Daily (无锡日报) just announced the city’s selection by the China Patent Office to build the nation’s first semiconductor intellectual property operation center.
Having only promulgated its Patent Law in 1984, China’s IP marketplace is still nascent. An excellent report by the Bank of China highlights inefficiencies across the board: prospective implementors struggle to identify the patents they need to license, banks lack the technical expertise to evaluate patents for financing, and existing IP trading platforms are not connected to a unified national market.
To bridge these gaps between innovators, implementors, and financiers, the China Patent Office set out to construct 10 intellectual property operation service centers (知识产权运营中心) across China. Among other things, the centers organize patent pools, advise financial institutions on the value of patents, and cooperate with local authorities to prosecute fraudulent IP registrations. Many of these IP operation centers are generalist institutions, but three of them target their efforts toward specific industries deemed critical by China’s 14th Five-Year Plan: 1) the Tianjin IP Operation Center on synthetic biotechnology, 2) the Shanghai IP Operation Center on nuclear energy, and most recently 3) the Wuxi IP Operation Center on semiconductors.
To contextualize the role this IP center will play in China’s semiconductor ecosystem, please enjoy this article I translated from the Wuxi Daily (无锡日报). Chip Capitols will be back next week with a think piece diving back into the U.S. CHIPS Act’s National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC). We will explore how different ways of distributing the NSTC’s IP outputs will impact its research agenda, as well as how this relates to the IP sharing structures in other public-private partnerships. *Chip Capitols’ prior dive into NSTC geography is available here.
[Any mistakes in translation are my own. Bold, bracketed texts are annotations provided for clarity. The original Chinese text is below.]
January 31, 2023
Source: Wuxi New Media Network
Responding to challenges posed by new technologies, economies, and the effects of intellectual property (IP) reform, the City of Wuxi’s Binhu District has strengthened the ties between innovative companies, guided companies in launching IP activities, and pushed forward a series of measures to support the development of strategic emerging industries. Recent days have brought yet another piece of good news: the National Intellectual Property Office [NIPO, a.k.a. the China Patent Office] officially approved support for Wuxi’s Binhu District to construct a National Semiconductor Intellectual Property Operation Center.
What is the source of Wuxi’s potential?
This National Semiconductor Intellectual Property Operation Center is the first NIPO-approved national IP operation center in Jiangsu Province. In its approval, NIPO placed high hopes in the construction of the center: "We hope that the operation center will concentrate on enhancing supply chain stability and competitiveness, integrate relevant IP services, work to cultivate IP operation service capabilities, and promote advanced IP creation. The high-level layout and application of IP will support the industry’s development.
IP drives innovation, and Binhu has revealed its potential in this latest round of competition. Where exactly is this potential from? Since entering the construction period of the 14th Five-Year Plan, the number of effective invention patents in Binhu has increased from 3,475 to 5,675, a cumulative growth rate of 63%. The number of invention patents per 10,000 people has grown from 68.96 to 95.67, a cumulative growth rate of 39%. The number of effective registered trademarks increased from 14,600 to 26,600, a cumulative growth rate of 82%. Wuxi has put forward 10 provincial and municipal plans for advanced IP strategic promotion and high-value patent development centers, holding a total of 23 China patent awards... This series of skyrocketing statistics constitutes an outstanding "transcript." It also epitomizes Binhu’s improvement of systems for public-sector IP service, market-based IP service, IP protection assistance, IP governance, and IP management.
The National Intellectual Property Operation Center just approved for construction will focus on the semiconductor industry. It is widely known that Wuxi is the birthplace of China's semiconductor industry, and Binhu District has a deep foundation in the development of the semiconductor industry, as well as a first-mover advantage. In 2022, the region’s semiconductor cluster realized 10.53 billion RMB [1.55 billion USD] in income, a year-on-year increase of 20.5%. Binhu Lake has attracted 170 companies from the semiconductor and related industries. The scope of industries involved includes chips for mobile smart terminals, radio frequency chips for 5G mobile phones, and other front-end applications; power management and power chips; as well as sensors and other sectors. The scope of involved industries is continually expanding to include CPUs [central processing units], FPGAs [Field Programmable Gate Arrays], MCUs [microcontroller units], artificial intelligence chips, and other high-performance categories. Among these industry participants, the following companies are representative in the advanced levels of technology they have achieved both domestically and abroad: Zhuo Shengwei in the field of radio frequency chips, Muchuang in security chips, Zhongwei Yixin in FPGAs, and Ruixinyuan in encryption chips.
What functions will the province's first operation center have?
As it takes the lead in building the province's first national-level IP operation center, what will Binhu District do in the face of such a mission?
According to Sun Yuanhong, director of the Binhu District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau, the construction of the National Semiconductor Intellectual Property Operation Center will pursue a path of "innovation leading, asset operation, capital boosting, and industrial integration." This serves to build the business structure of the center's primary operational entities and accelerate the creative output and commercialization of high-value semiconductor patent projects.
According to an official of the Jindu Yangtze River Delta Intellectual Property Center, who is responsible for implementing various aspects of the operation center’s construction, they [Jindu] will [1] set up a management company in Shanshui City, Binhu District, [2] make full use of the professional skills and resource advantages of the center’s international platform, and [3] establish a team to carry out specific jobs such as navigation, investment, transaction, protection, and other aspects of IP rights.
According to reports, semiconductor companies, financial institutions, and investment funds will jointly participate in the operation center to build six service platforms: data navigation, synthetization, trading, investment, financial services, and international cooperation. At the same time, comprehensive work is being conducted to normalize the navigation, analysis, and protection of semiconductor IP rights; to [maintain] the active licensing and transfer of patent transactions; cultivate investments in high-value semiconductor IP asset portfolios; to support semiconductor companies of core competitiveness in capitalization and exporting IP; and to import advanced semiconductor technology and talent from the international market.
What will the approved project bring to the "Pearl of Taihu Lake" [Wuxi]?
Experts in the industry said that construction of the IP operation center is significant in its creation of convergence channels for IP financing, technological innovation, and commercialization. Aggregating these services promotes the smooth construction of a new IP servicing system.
Over the past few years of promoting IP development in Binhu, the transformation from an emphasis on quantity to an emphasis on quality has further deepened. Binhu prioritizes guiding local entities to produce more high-value patents. The district encourages them to build high-value patent designs and full-process management systems and provides strong support for innovation to usher in high-quality development. Under the district’s guidance, scientific research institutions in the area have gained momentum. For example, the 58th Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Corporation (CETC) has taken on the provincial project to develop high-value patents for VLSI [超大规模集成电路] and its key components. Throughout the project, it has established and perfected a high-value patent development mechanism, using patents and other information to improve R&D efficiency. The mechanism promotes the timely patenting of R&D achievements and establishes a patent risk analysis and [theft] prevention mechanism. These lead to greater professionalism and efficiency in patent use and protection.
On this basis, the approved construction of the National Semiconductor Industry Intellectual Property Operation Center is the “cherry on top.” It will provide strong support for the transformation and upgrading of Binhu’s semiconductor companies and lead to greater innovation in the semiconductor industry. Wuxi’s provincial and municipal IP departments will also increase their guidance and service for the center. Over five years of construction, the departments will strive to support the center’s integration of "IP + industry + capital + institution + talent” and make the center an important force leading the innovation and development of the national semiconductor industry. (Yin Wanting)
2023年01月31日
来源：无锡新传媒网
为了回应新技术、新经济、新形势对知识产权制度变革提出的新挑战，无锡市滨湖区不断加强产业创新主体链接，引导企业开展知识产权运营，一系列为战略性新兴产业发展保驾护航的举措持续发力。近日，又一则好消息传来：国家知识产权局正式批复支持无锡市滨湖区建设国家半导体产业知识产权运营中心。
脱颖而出 背后的底气究竟在哪里？
这一国家半导体产业知识产权运营中心是国家知识产权局批复的江苏省第一个国家级知识产权运营中心。在批复中国家知识产权局对该中心建设寄予厚望：“希望运营中心紧密围绕增强产业链供应链稳定性和竞争力，融合相关知识产权服务资源，着力培育知识产权运营服务能力，促进知识产权高质量创造、高水平布局和高效益运用，助推产业高质量发展。”
知识产权驱动创新，滨湖区在这新一轮的竞争中脱颖而出，背后的底气究竟在哪里？自进入第十四个五年规划建设期以来，滨湖区有效发明专利拥有量从3475件提升到5675件，累计增长率达63%；万人发明专利拥有量从68.96件提升到95.67件，累计增长率达39%；有效注册商标数从1.46万件提升到2.66万件，累计增长率达82%；省市知识产权战略推进计划和高价值专利培育中心项目达10个；中国专利奖累计24项……一串串跃升的数据组成了一张有目共睹的优异“成绩单”，这也是滨湖区知识产权公共和市场化服务体系走向健全、知识产权维权援助体系走向高效、知识产权治理管理体系走向科学的缩影。
此次获批建设的国家知识产权运营中心将聚焦半导体产业。众所周知，无锡是中国半导体产业的发祥地，其中滨湖区作为无锡半导体产业发展的重要板块，在半导体产业发展上底蕴深厚，具备先发优势。2022年，全区半导体产业集群实现业务收入105.3亿元，同比增长20.5%。滨湖这片沃土集聚了170家半导体及关联企业，产业范围涉及移动智能终端芯片及5G手机射频等前端芯片、电源管理及功率芯片、传感器等多个领域，并不断向CPU类计算芯片、FPGA、MCU、人工智能芯片等高性能品类、新兴领域延伸拓展。其中代表企业卓胜微在射频芯片领域、沐创在安全芯片领域、中微亿芯在FPGA领域、睿芯源在编码器芯片领域都处于国内外较高水平。
全省首个 运营中心将有哪些功能？
率先一步建设全省首个国家级知识产权运营中心，面对如此使命在肩，滨湖区又将如何作为？
滨湖区市场监督管理局局长孙元宏介绍，此次国家半导体产业知识产权运营中心建设将遵循“创新引领、资产运营、资本助推、产业融合”的路径，构建中心运营主体业务架构，加速半导体产业高价值专利项目的创造产出和产业化应用。
负责落实运营中心的各项实体化建设的金杜长三角知识产权中心相关负责人介绍，他们将在滨湖区山水城设立实体化管理公司，充分发挥专业技能和国际平台的资源优势，负责组建运营团队，实际开展知识产权的导航、投资、交易、保护等各项具体运营工作。
据悉，整个运营中心将由半导体企业、金融机构、产业投资基金等多方主体共同参与，建设数据导航服务平台、综合服务平台、交易平台、投资运营平台、金融服务平台、国际合作平台六大服务板块。同时，常态化开展半导体领域知识产权导航、分析、保护等综合性工作，许可、转让的专利交易业态活跃，投资培育半导体领域高价值知识产权资产组合，支持具有核心竞争力的半导体企业知识产权的资本化运作和知识产权输出，从国际市场引进半导体领域的先进技术和高端人才。
获批建设 会给“太湖明珠”带来什么？
业内专家表示，知识产权运营中心的建设对于打通知识产权与金融、科技创新、成果转化等融合通道，形成服务聚集叠加效应，推动知识产权服务新体系的顺利构建都有着重要意义。
在滨湖区推动知识产权创造水平提升的这些年，从“重数量”向“重质量”转型的特征进一步深化。滨湖区重视引导区内单位多产出高价值专利，鼓励各单位积极构建高价值专利布局及全流程管理体系，形成完善的高价值专利培育体制机制，为创新引领高质量发展提供有力支撑。在高价值导向下，驻区科研型机构蓄势发力，如中电五十八研究所承担起省级超大规模集成电路及其关键部件的高价值专利培育项目，通过项目实施，建立完善了高价值专利培育工作机制，运用专利等信息提升研发效能，推动研发成果及时产权化，建立起专利风险研判和防控机制，专利运用和保护向专业化、高效化发展。
在此基础之上，国家半导体产业知识产权运营中心的获批建设可谓是锦上添花，将进一步为滨湖区半导体企业转型升级、引领半导体行业创新发展提供强有力的支撑。无锡市区两级知识产权部门也将加大对中心的指导和服务力度，力争通过五年的建设运营，推进中心基本实现“知识产权+产业+资本+机构+人才”一体化融合发展，成为引领全国半导体产业创新发展的重要力量。（殷婉婷）