全球半導(dǎo)體產(chǎn)業(yè)重心繼續(xù)向中國(guó)轉(zhuǎn)移

HONG KONG — After Intel and Foxconn said they would build advanced factories in America, it might have seemed as if the United States were gaining high-end manufacturing momentum.

香港——在英特爾(Intel)和富士康(Foxconn)宣布將在美國(guó)修建先進(jìn)的工廠后，也許看上去美國(guó)似乎在高端制造業(yè)勢(shì)頭強(qiáng)勁。

But on Friday, the California-based chip maker GlobalFoundries announced a $10 billion project in China, showing how the center of gravity continues to shift across the Pacific.

但周五，總部設(shè)在加利福尼亞州的芯片制造商GlobalFoundries宣布了一個(gè)投資額達(dá)100億美元(約合700億元人民幣)的項(xiàng)目，投資的目的地是中國(guó)。這表明，重心繼續(xù)在向太平洋對(duì)岸轉(zhuǎn)移。

The new advanced semiconductor factory, in the central Chinese city of Chengdu, is only the most recent in an array of investments, often by major multinationals, into China with the support of the Chinese government. The projects have become markedly more sophisticated, making more modern microchips, memory chips or flat-panel displays.

該公司計(jì)劃在中國(guó)腹地的成都新建一座先進(jìn)的半導(dǎo)體工廠。這只是最近在中國(guó)政府的支持下進(jìn)入中國(guó)的一系列投資中距今最近的一筆。這些投資的主體通常是大型跨國(guó)企業(yè)。相關(guān)項(xiàng)目已明顯變得更加高級(jí)，生產(chǎn)的產(chǎn)品則是更先進(jìn)的微芯片、記憶芯片或平板顯示器。

The reason for the shift is in part the Chinese government. In 2013 Beijing announced a major initiative to expand the country’s ability to produce microchips, which act as the brains of everything from guided missiles to smartphones. Also driving the companies, according to analysts, are new guidelines urging Chinese electronics makers to buy chips made in China.

重心轉(zhuǎn)移的原因部分在于中國(guó)政府。2013年，北京宣布了一個(gè)旨在增強(qiáng)中國(guó)微芯片生產(chǎn)能力的重大行動(dòng)。微芯片是從制導(dǎo)導(dǎo)彈到智能手機(jī)在內(nèi)的一切物品的大腦。據(jù)分析人士稱，號(hào)召中國(guó)電子器件制造商購(gòu)買中國(guó)制造的芯片的新指導(dǎo)方針，也在推動(dòng)相關(guān)公司的決策。

Since China has begun focusing on semiconductors, the provenance of advanced chips has become an increasingly fraught political issue. The United States government has blocked several Chinese deals for American and European chip companies during the past two years, and a commission created by former President Barack Obama said China’s chip policies posed a risk to American companies.

因?yàn)橹袊?guó)已經(jīng)開(kāi)始把重點(diǎn)放在半導(dǎo)體上，先進(jìn)芯片的出處成了一個(gè)越來(lái)越令人擔(dān)憂的政治問(wèn)題。過(guò)去兩年，美國(guó)政府叫停了中國(guó)向美國(guó)和歐洲芯片公司發(fā)出的交易要約，而前總統(tǒng)貝拉克·奧巴馬(Barack Obama)成立的一個(gè)委員會(huì)則稱，中國(guó)的芯片政策對(duì)美國(guó)公司構(gòu)成了危險(xiǎn)。

The election of President Trump has further increased pressure on companies, several of which have announced plans to build facilities in America. In Intel’s case, it was a recommitment to an earlier plan the company had announced.

特朗普總統(tǒng)當(dāng)選導(dǎo)致相關(guān)公司面臨的壓力進(jìn)一步增加，其中幾家已經(jīng)宣布了在美國(guó)建廠的計(jì)劃。以英特爾為例，該公司再次承諾實(shí)施其早前宣布的一個(gè)計(jì)劃。

Leading China’s charge have been both the central and provincial governments, which have been spending billions of dollars on investments and subsidies. The government has said China will spend about $100 billion to bring chip factories and research facilities to China.

領(lǐng)導(dǎo)中國(guó)這場(chǎng)攻勢(shì)的，既有中央政府，也有省一級(jí)政府。它們?cè)谕顿Y和補(bǔ)貼上花了數(shù)十億美元。政府稱中國(guó)將投資大約1000億美元，用于把芯片工廠和研究設(shè)施引入中國(guó)。

“Almost all of the large semiconductor enterprises in the United States have received investment offers from Chinese state actors,” according to a report from the Mercator Institute for China Studies, a think tank based in Germany. The report added that China’s newest industrial policy, Made in China 2025, had named semiconductors as a crucial area to improve.

“美國(guó)幾乎所有大型半導(dǎo)體企業(yè)都收到過(guò)中國(guó)代表政府機(jī)構(gòu)的主體發(fā)出的投資要約，”總部設(shè)在德國(guó)的智庫(kù)墨卡托中國(guó)研究中心(Mercator Institute for China Studies)發(fā)布的一份報(bào)告稱。該報(bào)告還接著表示，中國(guó)最新的工業(yè)政策《中國(guó)制造2025》將半導(dǎo)體列為了需要提升的關(guān)鍵領(lǐng)域。

Although analysts remain unsure of how quickly China might be able to close a huge gap with companies from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the United States, the funds have been slowly attracting new plants. A semiconductor industry group said in a recent report that it was tracking the production of more than 20 semiconductor manufacturing plants in China.

盡管分析人士仍不確定中國(guó)大概能在多長(zhǎng)時(shí)間內(nèi)消除與日本、韓國(guó)、臺(tái)灣和美國(guó)公司之間的巨大差距，但資金一直在慢慢吸引新的工廠。一個(gè)半導(dǎo)體行業(yè)組織在最近的一份報(bào)告中稱，自己正在追蹤中國(guó)逾20家半導(dǎo)體制造廠的生產(chǎn)情況。

“Such spending momentum will drive China to the top-tier bracket for fab equipment and is paving the way to establish China’s position on the global semiconductor stage,” according to a recent report by SEMI, a global microelectronics industry association, referring to tools used to fabricate chips.

“這種花錢勢(shì)頭將推動(dòng)中國(guó)獲得頂級(jí)微芯片制造設(shè)備，并且正在為建立中國(guó)在全球半導(dǎo)體舞臺(tái)上的地位鋪平道路，”全球微電子行業(yè)協(xié)會(huì)SEMI最近發(fā)布的一份報(bào)告說(shuō)。它指的是用來(lái)制造芯片的工具。

The GlobalFoundries project is being built in cooperation with the Chengdu municipal government. GlobalFoundries declined to specify the amount of the investment, but several documents on government websites put the total project around $10 billion.

GlobalFoundries的項(xiàng)目已經(jīng)開(kāi)建了，與它合作的是成都市政府。GlobalFoundries拒絕透露具體的投資金額，但政府網(wǎng)站上的幾份文件稱，該項(xiàng)目總投資100億美元左右。

Jason Gorss, a GlobalFoundries spokesman, declined to provide financial details but said in an email that “industry analysts estimate that the total cost of an advanced semiconductor fab is on the order of $10B and this fab will be in that range.” It is not clear how much investment is being provided by the company and how much by the Chengdu government.

GlobalFoundries的發(fā)言人賈森·戈?duì)査?Jason Gorss)拒絕提供財(cái)務(wù)細(xì)節(jié)，但在一封電子郵件中稱“行業(yè)分析人士估計(jì)，修建一座先進(jìn)的半導(dǎo)體制造廠的成本約為100億美元，這座制造廠將在這個(gè)范圍內(nèi)”。目前尚不清楚該公司和成都市政府分別負(fù)擔(dān)多少投資。

Although the semiconductors produced at the plant will be a generation behind the most cutting-edge chip technology, they are based on a special design that is likely to make them useful in sensors for mobile devices, cars and other gadgets that are increasingly being connected to computer networks.

盡管該工廠生產(chǎn)的半導(dǎo)體將落后最尖端的芯片技術(shù)整整一代，但它們是基于一個(gè)特殊的設(shè)計(jì)。這種設(shè)計(jì)可能會(huì)讓它們能夠用于移動(dòng)設(shè)備、汽車和其他日漸和計(jì)算機(jī)網(wǎng)絡(luò)相連的器械的傳感器中。

GlobalFoundries is based in Santa Clara, Calif., and owned by Abu Dhabi, one of the United Arab Emirates. The company has semiconductor plants across the world, including two former IBM plants in the United States that it uses to make chips for the American military.

GlobalFoundries的總部設(shè)在加利福尼亞州的圣克拉拉，為阿拉伯聯(lián)合酋長(zhǎng)國(guó)的成員國(guó)之一阿布扎比所有。該公司的半導(dǎo)體工廠遍布全球，包括美國(guó)境內(nèi)的兩座用來(lái)為美國(guó)軍方生產(chǎn)芯片的工廠。這兩家工廠原本屬于IBM。

Although Intel and Foxconn have said they have plans to build in America, the factories being built in China greatly outnumber them.

雖然英特爾和富士康均表示計(jì)劃在美國(guó)建廠，但中國(guó)境內(nèi)的在建工廠在數(shù)量上遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過(guò)了它們。

In late 2015, a leading chip maker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, said it would build a production facility in China despite longtime concerns from Taiwan’s government about insulating the industry from Chinese competition and potential intellectual property theft. Late last year, another major chip maker from Taiwan, United Microelectronics, said it would build a factory on the east coast of China.

盡管臺(tái)灣政府長(zhǎng)期對(duì)讓該行業(yè)擺脫中國(guó)的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)和潛在的知識(shí)產(chǎn)權(quán)盜竊感到擔(dān)憂，但2015年年底，領(lǐng)先的芯片制造商臺(tái)灣積體電路制造股份有限公司表示將在中國(guó)修建一個(gè)生產(chǎn)工廠。去年年底，臺(tái)灣另一家主要的芯片制造商聯(lián)華電子宣布，將在中國(guó)東部沿海地區(qū)修建一座工廠。

Other companies have taken different approaches. The American chip maker AMD has licensed technology to a Chinese joint venture, also in Chengdu. IBM has licensed chip technology to a separate local partner.

其他公司則采取了不同的方式。美國(guó)芯片制造商AMD把技術(shù)授權(quán)給了一家同樣位于成都的中國(guó)合資企業(yè)。IBM則把芯片技術(shù)授權(quán)給了當(dāng)?shù)亓硗庖粋€(gè)合作伙伴。