by Xinhua writers Chen Wenxian, Wang Bowen
JERUSALEM, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Experts and companies from Israeli semiconductor industry said they see a lot of opportunities of working with Chinese partners in the sector.
"I believe that there are a lot of opportunities that Chinese companies can work with Israeli ones in the semiconductor sector," said Sol Gradman, general chair of the Chipex2018, an annual event of the Israeli microelectronics industry.
Gradman cited that Israel, with a new generation of technologies, is looking at future applications such as automotive applications, medical devices and for Internet of Things.
ChipEx2018, held Tuesday in Tel Aviv, the coastal city and the economic hub of Israel, was attended by major semiconductor companies from Israel and abroad.
Exhibitors presented their latest technological innovations of chips and related products and solutions, and even their ambitions of future direction of the industry.
Some exhibitors said they had already close business cooperation with Chinese companies, some of which have already opened innovation and R&D centers in Israel over the past years.
"We're super excited about being a part of helping grow China's semiconductor market," said Mark Granger, vice president of Global Foundries, a semiconductor foundry providing combination of design, development, and fabrication services.
Global Foundries has partnered with the local government in Chengdu, capital of southwestern China's Sichuan Province, to build a 300mm fabrication facility.
"China is such a huge and growing developer of products and solutions that it makes sense to have a very vibrant or large semiconductor industry," Granger told Xinhua.
"That's exactly why we're building the local Chinese semiconductor fabrication facility," Granger said.
Granger added that many innovative things are coming out of China in the chip design and development, and will continue to grow into a big market.
The experts at the Chipex2018 also viewed artificial intelligence and machine learning as the basic elements of the future development of the semiconductor industry.
However, one big challenge to further pushing forward the technological innovation of the semiconductor industry is the need for huge investment, they said.
Thus, it is necessary to increase global investment for the development of the semiconductor industry, they added.
"It makes sense to have a global environment and one of very free and open trade," Granger said.
