The United States can no longer claim the top spot for published and accepted research papers on chip design and state-of-the-art technology. Following the latest entry in one of the world’s most prestigious events for semiconductor circuits, the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC 2023), It has been revealed that certain accolade now belongs to China (opens in new tab) – Despite the prolonged situation of severe technical sanctions being imposed on the country.
With 59 accepted papers from China and 42 accepted papers from North America, the US can no longer claim dominance in cutting-edge chip research. Part of the reason for this stems from the fact that the US submitted 30 fewer research papers to his ISSCC 2023 than in the previous edition, while China has submitted more. In fact, 129 out of a total of 198 papers were accepted, and the entire Far East region, which includes East and South East Asia, has nearly 100,000 papers submitted (and accepted) compared to the EU and US combined. doubled (27 and 42). , Respectively).
At the same time, the ISSCC panel noted that, especially since 2017, China’s contributions to research have improved in quality at an impressive rate, with an ever-growing number of submitted papers surviving the editorial floor. says that quality.These aren’t papers being hacked together by something like Meta’s Galactica AI (opens in new tab).
Interestingly, the ISSCC also announced that the sources of paper submissions within each region have changed in recent years, with the number of papers submitted and accepted originating from an increasing number of universities. Interestingly, in 2011 there was a 50/50 split between corporate and academic submissions. However, as of the 2023 edition, about 75% of submissions are from academia, demonstrating the increasing importance of universities in developing cutting-edge technologies.
Investment in China’s higher education pays off
The number of cutting-edge research papers originating from Chinese universities is nothing to scoff at. Of his 49 papers accepted from China, 15 were from the University of Macau, 13 from Tsinghua University, and 6 from Peking University. For example, research antics at Tsinghua University are featured in Tom’s Hardware. One relates precisely to the technology ISSCC is seeking, such as the sidewall design of the world’s smallest transistor.So it’s no coincidence that it was ranked The third most prestigious university in Asia.
You may also remember that Tsinghua Unigroup, one of Tsinghua University’s many departments, owns NAND maker YMTC. The YMTC is one of China’s crown jewels and is a heavy target for US sanctions.
As business korea quotes“China has increased the selection of papers in all categories, and the Chinese government has played an important role in this,” said one attendee. China’s University Funding History Tells an Interestingly Similar Storythe Chinese government’s funding of higher education has more than doubled in the last decade. It is currently estimated at $179 billion and is increasing year by year, with several universities receiving more than $5 billion of her funding.
Looking at the numbers, Cerebras, one of the world’s leading chip designers, said: $720 million in funding from various capital raisings. However, the United States still spends more on higher education as a percentage of GDP (gross domestic product, or the sum of the value of goods and services produced by the nation’s economy). For example, according to World Bank data, US spending totaled 4.9% of GDP in 2018the figure for China in the same year was 3.8% (In 2012, China only reached a high of 4.1. (compared to 5.1% in the US in 2017).
reduce the impact of sanctions
It should also be mentioned that China’s investment in university research (and research paper supremacy) is geared toward the future of technological development. China does not study the present in universities. It studies its future. And whatever the current geopolitical situation, the aim is to mitigate the impact of US sanctions as much as possible. But, of course, that is only possible if China is not technologically dependent on the United States, and that is exactly the problem future chip manufacturing will solve. China cannot be prohibited from developing anything. The key here is the speed at which we unlock technologies like sidewall transistors, quantum computing, and AI. And the higher the quality of the research, the higher the rate.
Somewhere along, now into a speculative future, China could close or even begin to close some doors on US technology development itself. Also, patents can occupy a lot of efficient design space for a very long time. (opens in new tab)In fact, China just wants to get to that future sooner. What happens after that is obvious to everyone.
