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Tech war: Stanford-educated expert leads China’s new semiconductor school with YMTC support

Wuhan University’s School of Integrated Circuits has teamed up with China’s top memory chipmaker to overcome US tech curbs

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Wuhan University appoints renowned semiconductor expert Liu Sheng as the head of its new School of Integrated Circuits. Photo: Handout
Coco Fengin Guangdong

Wuhan University has become the latest institution to join China’s push for self-reliance in semiconductors by establishing the School of Integrated Circuits, led by a scientist educated at Stanford University.

Liu Sheng, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences who earned a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Stanford in 1992, has been appointed as the inaugural dean of the new school.

At an opening ceremony on Thursday, he said the school’s establishment followed “an in-depth exploration of the strategic needs of the country” and served as “a powerful response to technological chokepoints”, according to a statement posted on the university’s WeChat account.

On the same day, the school signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Wuhan-based Yangtze Memory Technologies Corporation (YMTC), China’s leading memory chip manufacturer.

YMTC is known for its 3D NAND flash memory technology, which stacks transistor dies vertically to increase storage density. The company’s technology has reportedly been used by South Korea’s Samsung Electronics.

A sign at YMTC’s Silicon Valley office. Photo: Shutterstock
A sign at YMTC’s Silicon Valley office. Photo: Shutterstock

YMTC chairman Chen Nanxiang, who attended the event, said the partnership aimed to “explore a new model of integrating industry with education” to “cultivate all-round talent with both theoretical foundations and engineering skills”.

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