China officially inaugurated its College of Integrated Circuits at Harbin Engineering University in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province on Sunday, further enhancing the country's efforts to advance chip development for maritime applications.
Building on the university's strengths in shipbuilding, naval equipment, ocean engineering, and nuclear energy applications, the newly launched college will focus on the independent development of "ocean chips."
Research will center on integrated circuits applications for marine sensors, underwater intelligent systems, multi-physics detection, and MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) technologies.
Key research directions include micro–nano semiconductor and optoelectronic integrated devices, integrated circuits design and system-on-chip technologies, integrated circuits manufacturing and sensor development, as well as advanced packaging and intelligent microsystem integration.
The college will offer an integrated bachelor-to-doctoral training program.
Undergraduate education will follow a university-industry collaborative training model: one year of foundational study, two years of laboratory research practice, and one year dedicated to enterprise-based graduation project.
A dual-mentor system will be adopted, with the program aiming to train about 60 versatile and innovative students each year who are proficient in the full chip development process.
"Harbin Engineering University established the College of Integrated Circuits in order to leverage the university's unique strengths in the ship, marine, and nuclear fields, and to collaborate with leading enterprises in these sectors and in integrated circuits. Together, we aim to advance the training of urgently needed integrated circuits talent, promote scientific research, and support industrial upgrading in the marine and nuclear domains," said Zhang Yonggang, executive dean of College of Integrated Circuits, Harbin Engineering University.
China launches college of integrated circuits to advance chip development
