The signing ceremony for an agreement between Xiamen Hengkun New Material Technology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences is held on Oct 11. [Photo/investxiamen.org.cn]

On Oct 11, Xiamen Hengkun New Material Technology Company and the Institute of Microelectronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) signed a cooperative agreement on the research and development of a semiconductor photo resist.

In recent years, Xiamen has attached great importance to innovation in core integrated circuit design technology, as integrated circuit design was listed as one of 10 future industries in Xiamen. It was expected that by 2021, the output value of the industry would exceed 10 billion yuan ($1.42 billion).

Xiamen Hengkun New Material Technology Company, founded in 1996, was listed on China's Third-Board Over-the-Counter (OTC) Market in May 2015. After years of development, it has become a supplier of China's leading chip enterprises. Precursors and high-end photo resists, two advanced electronic materials in China's semiconductor industry, are the company's two leading products.

In the future, the company will strengthen research and development in the semiconductor sector by making full use of the resources of the CAS's Institute of Microelectronics in order to accelerate the technical promotion and industrialization of high-end photo resists and related raw materials.

Xiamen, one of the most important cities for China's semiconductor industry, has released a range of favorable policies in recent years, including increasing incentives for the application of scientific and technological research and offering its full support to enterprises looking to build laboratories in order to strengthen the research and development capacity of enterprises.