[Epoch Times, July 05, 2021](Epoch Times reporter Li Jing comprehensive report) As the largest foundry company in mainland China, SMIC recently broke a core technical staff resignation: a company that has worked for 20 years Core technician and vice president of technology research and development Wu Jingang resigned. Some people speculate that Wu’s resignation may be related to salary; there are also reports that Wu may have gone to Huawei. Huawei is one of SMIC’s investors, and both companies have a Chinese military background.
SMIC International Integrated Circuit Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “SMIC”) announced on the evening of July 4 that Dr. Wu Jingang, the company’s core technical staff, had recently applied for resignation due to personal reasons and completed the resignation procedures. After resignation, Dr. Wu Jingang no longer holds any position in the company.
Wu Jingang joined SMIC in 2001 and was the first to join the company among the five core technical personnel of SMIC. From 2001 to 2014, he served as Assistant Director, Director, and Senior Director. Since 2014, he has served as Vice President of Technology R&D. During his tenure, he was responsible for participating in the company’s FinFET advanced process technology R&D and management.
On May 20 this year, SMIC disclosed a “2021 Sci-tech Innovation Board Restricted Stock Incentive Plan First Grant Partial Incentive List”, Wu Jingang was awarded 160,000 restricted shares of the company as a core technician. , The stock value is about 9.3 million yuan. This resignation also means that he has given up these 160,000 restricted stocks.
According to the labor contract, confidentiality agreement or terms and non-competition clauses signed by SMIC and Wu Jingang, Dr. Wu Jingang promised not to disclose any information directly or indirectly to anyone inside or outside the company before obtaining the company’s prior written consent. Confidential/proprietary information, or use any confidential/proprietary information for any purpose other than performing its duties to the company.
Among chip manufacturing companies in mainland China, the most technologically advanced manufacturer is SMIC. At present, SMIC is able to produce chips with a process above 14nm. According to the “Daily Economic News” report, SMIC’s latest market value is 459.3 billion yuan.
Soon after its establishment, SMIC encountered legal charges from TSMC, the world’s largest foundry, alleging that SMIC’s Zhang Rujing team had stolen TSMC’s smart property. At the end of 2010, a settlement agreement was reached with TSMC’s eight-year trade secret plagiarism. In addition to compensating TSMC for 200 million U.S. dollars, SMIC will also grant TSMC an 8% stake in SMIC for free.
According to the prospectus, Wu Jingang is one of the only five core technical personnel of SMIC. The remaining four are: Zhao Haijun, co-CEO of SMIC, co-CEO Liang Mengsong, and Zhou Meisheng, executive vice president of technology research and development. , Zhang Xin, senior vice president of operations and engineering.
According to OFweek optical communication network news, in 2020, SMIC’s lifeline is beating abnormally: the news that Liang Mengsong is leaving; this is not enough, Jiang Shangyi is also exploded. Both Jiang Shangyi and Liang Mengsong were born in Taiwan, and they were both key technicians at TSMC.
As a result, SMIC invested a lot of money, donating a 22 million mansion to Liang Mengsong, and also launched a stock incentive plan at SMIC’s June shareholders meeting. Liang Mengsong received 400,000 shares from it, with a total value of up to 24 million.
After entering 2021, SMIC officially released an announcement that Jiang Shangyi was appointed as the vice chairman of SMIC, while Liang Mengsong was a director and co-CEO, which meant that SMIC left Jiang Shangyi and Liang Mengsong at the same time.
Jiang Shangyi used to be an executive of TSMC and was responsible for the procurement of lithography machines. He is good at dealing with the United States and ASML. In TSMC, Liang Mengsong participated in the development of almost all TSMC process chips, and was later poached by Samsung, allowing Samsung to briefly lead TSMC in the 14nm process. In 2017, Liang Mengsong was poached by SMIC.
Liang Mengsong used to be the senior R&D director of TSMC and an IEEE Fellow at the same time. He has published more than 350 technical papers and holds more than 450 patents.
According to the information, Zhou Meisheng (female) is of Singaporean nationality. From 2017 to present, Zhou Meisheng has served as Executive Vice President of Technology R&D of SMIC. She has served as the Chief Technology Officer of Panlin Semiconductor Equipment Technology Co., Ltd. in China, and held management positions in well-known semiconductor companies such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, UMC and GlobalFoundries.
Zhao Haijun, Singaporean nationality, served as chief operating officer and executive vice president of SMIC and general manager of SMIC North from 2010 to 2016. Since October 2017, he has served as the co-CEO and executive director of SMIC.
Zhang Xin, Singaporean nationality. Before joining SMIC, he held management positions in TSMC’s American foundry and GlobalFoundries for ten years. Joined SMIC in 2010 and served as senior director of international advanced manufacturing technology and senior vice president of operations and engineering.
Among the five, only Zhou Meisheng and Wu Jingang seem to have no experience in TSMC.
Some people speculate that Wu Jingang’s resignation may be related to salary. Because among the five core technical personnel, Wu Jingang’s salary is relatively low.
According to SMIC’s 2020 financial report, Wu Jingang’s total pre-tax remuneration from the company in 2020 is 2.141 million yuan, which is a large gap with the other four.
According to OFweek Optical Communication Network, in the past two decades, Wu Jingang has made SMIC, and SMIC has also made Wu Jingang. It stands to reason that Wu Jingang’s feelings for SMIC should be deeper than the other four. Why does the company do everything possible to keep other technicians when they claim to leave, but when Dr. Wu Jingang leaves, it is so “smooth”? The media speculated that Wu Jingang is very likely to go to Huawei.
SMIC and Huawei have both been sanctioned by the U.S. with CCP background
SMIC has a close relationship with Huawei, and the two companies have been sanctioned by the US for their involvement in the CCP’s military-civilian integration plan. Military-civilian integration is a national strategy of the CCP, which aims to use civilian resources, technology, and capital, or use private identities to steal foreign technology to achieve the CCP’s goal of strengthening the military.
In addition, Huawei is also one of the investors of SMIC, participating in the investment in SMIC New Technology Research and Development (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. established in 2014. At that time, the official said that the Shanghai company would “develop the next generation of CMOS logic technology and build China’s most advanced integrated circuit research and development platform.”
The U.S. Department of Defense and the Department of Commerce included SMIC on the sanctions list in September and December 2020, respectively. The reason is that SMIC has a Chinese military background and the CCP’s “military-civilian integration” policy uses US technology in the military. The US Department of Commerce has clearly stated that it restricts US manufacturers from selling equipment used to manufacture wafers of 10 nanometers and below to SMIC.
Chinese economist Cheng Xiaonong said that China’s wafer manufacturing industry started by stealing core technologies from the United States and Taiwan and poaching executives with high salaries. It has long relied on imports. Its independent research and development capabilities are insufficient and its subsequent development is weak; the United States has imposed multiple rounds of sanctions against SMIC , Is to raise its vigilance against China’s (CCP) stealing core technologies to realize the development of its own wafer industry at a low cost.
On June 3, U.S. President Joe Biden signed the “Administrative Order for Dealing with the Funding of Securities Investment of Certain Companies in the People’s Republic of China and Causes Threats”, requiring that Chinese companies involved in the CCP’s military and surveillance technology be dealt with. The sanctions will take effect from August 2. Among the 59 Chinese military companies that have been blacklisted in the United States, SMIC, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. and other companies are included.
Editor in charge: Gao Jing#
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