[Source / Observer Network, Qi Qian] The United States continues to strengthen its chip export restrictions on China in an attempt to curb China's access to advanced semiconductors. However, the latest US research shows that Chinese researchers have stepped up their efforts and conducted a large amount of basic research, currently leading the world in chip design and manufacturing research.
According to a report by the South China Morning Post on April 22, a report released in March this year by the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) at Georgetown University showed that among the top ten global chip research output institutions (in English) from 2018 to 2023, nine were Chinese institutions. Additionally, eight Chinese institutions ranked in the top ten for high citation rate papers.
The report stated that the CSET Emerging Technologies Observation Team analyzed high citation rate papers through "cluster analysis" to summarize the trends and characteristics of global chip research from 2018 to 2023, and published a report titled "Current Status of Global Chip Research." The report found:
During this period, tens of thousands of chip research papers were published globally, showing steady growth but at a slower pace than the artificial intelligence (AI) field;
China has so far published the most chip research publications, with the number exceeding the total of the next three countries;
China also leads in chip publication citation rates, with half (50%) of high citation rate articles authored by Chinese researchers;
The recent increase in published results in chip design and manufacturing mainly comes from China and India, while the research output of most other countries has actually decreased over time.
In terms of country rankings, the leading countries in chip design and manufacturing research (based on total number of papers), ranked in the top five are China, the United States, India, Japan, and South Korea; the top five countries for high citation rate papers are China, the United States, South Korea, Germany, and India.
China takes the lead in chip research - CSET chart
In terms of specific institutions, among the leading organizations in chip design and manufacturing research (based on total number of papers), nine out of ten are Chinese. Apart from the third-ranked French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), the others are the Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Tsinghua University, Nanjing University, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Zhejiang University, and Peking University.
In terms of high citation rate papers, Chinese institutions still dominate, with eight out of the top ten. In order, they are the Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University, Nanjing University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Zhejiang University, University of Science and Technology of China, and Peking University. Additionally, the ninth is the National University of Singapore, and the tenth is the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).
The United States is the second largest producer after China, but no institution ranks in the top ten for either total number of published articles or citation counts.
Chinese institutions rank first in nine out of ten for total number of papers; in high citation rate papers, they rank first in eight out of ten - CSET chart
The South China Morning Post reported that chip research is a hotly contested area between China and the United States, with both countries attempting to take the lead in next-generation semiconductor technology. The United States is trying to hinder China's production of advanced semiconductors by restricting exports of high-end chip manufacturing tools, but Zachary Arnold, the chief analyst of the CSET Emerging Technologies Observation Team and author of the report, said that the U.S. may not be able to maintain its competitive advantage through export controls.
Arnold told Nature magazine that this study primarily focuses on emerging chip technologies rather than commercial advancements, mainly considering publicly available publications. He pointed out that China leads in the number of published papers in growing areas of chip research.
Subsequently, the South China Morning Post analyzed and introduced China's top chip research institutions and their main research achievements one by one.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences tops both the list of total number of papers and high citation rate papers. During this period, the institution published more than 14,300 papers related to chips, with over 3,400 being highly cited articles. One of its main research fields is neuromorphic computing and carbon-based microchips.
The University of Chinese Academy of Sciences ranks second in both the total number of papers and high citation rate papers. The institution has achieved remarkable results in neuromorphic computing and device research, as well as structural analysis of graphene materials.
Tsinghua University published nearly 4,650 papers, with 1,280 being highly cited articles. In 2023, a team from Tsinghua University developed a new memristor-based integrated circuit chip. The institution excels in deep learning and neural network-based fields.
The article mentioned that Sun Nan, a top "chip architect," who once held a lifetime professorship at the University of Texas at Austin and was a consultant for an internationally renowned chip design company, returned to China in 2020, leaving everything behind in the U.S., and joined Tsinghua University. Over the past four years, he has led his team to develop over 50 top-tier chips.
The University of Electronic Science and Technology of China ranks fourth in the total number of published papers, with nearly 5,240 papers. Last year, the university collaborated with Huawei to develop a new ultra-high-speed chip that could double the speed of electronic warfare. The institution also made progress in quantum chip development, successfully creating a gallium nitride quantum light source chip.
Nanjing University has continued to make progress in chip ferromagnetism. A related paper published by its team in Nature in 2018 won the paper with the highest number of citations in the chip field from 2018 to 2023 (with 2,043 citations).
Recently, Wang Huanhu, who previously worked at Apple, joined the School of Integrated Circuit at Huazhong University of Science and Technology as a professor and doctoral supervisor. It was introduced that Wang's research direction is hardware security design for integrated circuits and EDA automation, and he participated in the development of three Apple M-series chips.
Zhejiang University also ranks among the top in two chip research fields involving photonics. Photonic chips process and transmit information using photons rather than electrons, allowing faster propagation and thus achieving higher data transfer speeds.
As one of China's top universities, Peking University has recently made breakthroughs in the chip field.
In February, a team from Peking University published a paper reporting the world's first low-power 2D gate-all-around transistor (2D GAAFET) and developed high-performance, low-power 2D gate-all-around logic devices. The South China Morning Post reported that these devices can manufacture chips using existing processing technology without silicon. "This is crucial for China, as it cannot currently produce the most advanced silicon-based transistors due to U.S. sanctions."
Similarly in February, a team led by Peking University announced a novel 100 gigahertz chip that uses light (rather than electricity) to synchronize processors. This chip can open up the future of high-speed artificial intelligence computing, next-generation communication, and remote sensing.
Previously, the CSET Emerging Technologies Observation Team used the same research tools to explore global trends in AI safety research and cybersecurity.
According to the research results released by the team last May, in more than half of today's world's hottest AI fields, "China's research leads the U.S." Data shows that whether in total number of AI research papers or high citation rate AI research papers, Chinese institutions rank among the top.
Chinese research institutions rank first in total number of papers and high citation rate papers - CSET chart
The CSET team found that the top five institutions globally for AI research paper numbers are all Chinese, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences leading the way; in terms of high citation rate papers, Chinese institutions still hold two of the top five spots, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences ranking first and Tsinghua University ranking third. Google, Stanford University, and MIT rank second, fourth, and fifth respectively.
Axios News Network in the U.S. reported at the time that this result refutes a widely circulated Western belief for many years, which is that Chinese research institutions publish the most papers but the quality is relatively lower compared to others.
This article is an exclusive article by Observer Network and cannot be reprinted without permission.
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