China tops all in semiconductor research
China is not only the undisputed leader in the semiconductor industry, but has also gained leadership in the field of research and development. Basically, if before the industries of the Dragon were towed by the technological conquests of the West, today they do it by themselves. And good too. The mirror of this changed situation emerges from Elsevier’s new report, one of the most important scientific publishers in the world with 3,000 active publications, which examined global academic production on the subject of semiconductors from 2003 to 2022.
Europe is trying to relaunch
L’Europa has produced 15,000 texts in the last year. The distance to China ( 30,000 texts ) is definitely important. India follows, but it is with the United States that Beijing is waging a tough war on the semiconductor front. In this global conflict, the Old Continent is doing what it can. It has just become operationalEuropean chips act, the 43 billion euro EU plan to boost the semiconductor industry, which provides funding for research and development, the construction of new factories and the training of new workers, now operational, announced in February this year. Looking at the last 20 years in Europe we see a growth of academic output around the topics of semiconductors, with the highest peaks after 2008 and 2020. As far as Italy is concerned, the most active university is the Politecnico di Milano (al 15th place with 1220 publicationsi.) Among the European companies that publish research in this area, Leonardo it is the first Italian to appear in the list of the 100 most prolific European companies
Italian “Chips act” to limit dependence on China
In the last March a 1.8 billion euro investment plan was announced to strengthen the semiconductor industry in the country and make Italy more competitive and less dependent on foreign countries and above all on the Chinese. The Country of the Dragon stands alone over a third of total semiconductor imports of Italy. They follow spaced out Taiwan and South Korea. Other supplier countries are Japan, the United States, Germany and the Netherlands. Also to limit our dependence on China the Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso met at Mimi the leaders of the hmm, company controlled by the company GlobalWafers based in Taiwan. The group is already present in Italy with production sites in Novara and Merano. At the center of the conversation was the development of the company’s investment plans in our country. The meeting precedes the presentation in the Council of Ministers in the coming weeks of a Chips Act italiano in the wake of a similar European plan
The Dragon in the lead with 165,000 patents
The United States instead they conquer the podium as regards the transfer of technology from academic research to industrial applications, with 1.8% of scientific production cited by patents. Followed by South Korea and the United Kingdom (1.3%) and Canada and France (1.2%). The EU shares fourth place with Japan (1%) and China shows much lower than average levels, with 0.5%. Italy, on the other hand, aligns itself with the global trend with 0.9%. In terms of patents, however, the China returns to lead the ranking, with over 165,000 patents, followed by Japan, South Korea and the USA. However, the picture is further complicated by differences in terms of competitive impact.