The College of Integrated Circuit (IC) jointly set up by Shenzhen Technology University (SZTU) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) was inaugurated Tuesday.

The two sides also signed a strategic cooperation agreement during the inauguration ceremony. SZTU’s College of New Materials and New Energies will oversee the preparatory work for the IC college, said SZTU.

Ruan Shuangchen, president of SZTU, said that one of the greatest difficulties facing the development of the country’s IC industry is the shortage of talented people.

To address the issue, SZTU will enhance cooperation with SMIC, the largest semi-conductor maker on the Chinese mainland, to implement new mechanisms on curriculum design and talent cultivation, said Ruan.

Han Pei, SZTU’s director of the College of New Materials and New Energies, said only a few universities in Guangdong have launched IC industry-related majors. The current scale, however, falls short of IC-related companies’ needs.

“As a newly established university featuring applied technology in Guangdong, SZTU has a good foundation to build an incubator for IC talent as it is located in Pingshan, which has good industrial advantages,” said Han.

Xu Feng, head of SMIC’s Shenzhen branch, said that IC, the core technology for industries such as 5G, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and new energy, is crucial to companies’ core competitiveness amid the technological revolution and has great potentials.

Xu encouraged students to study hard to contribute to the growth of the Chinese IC industry, which is years behind its counterparts in developed countries in terms of manufacturing technology.

According to the China IC industry talent white paper (2019-2020), the demand for IC specialists will reach roughly 744,500 by the end of 2022.