The University of Macau (UM), Tsinghua University, and the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) recently held the Third Workshop on IC Advances in China (ICAC 2021). The event attracted nearly 600 experts, scholars, and industry practitioners, with nearly 40 per cent of them coming from the industry. Participants also include leading Chinese scholars of IC design and engineers from renowned universities such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, UM, and UESTC.

The event was held with assistance from Zhuhai UM Science & Technology Research Institute and sponsorship from Huawei HiSilicon, Beken Corporation, and Ping’s Club. The workshop aimed to provide a platform for academics and industry practitioners to have technical discussions openly, to seek opportunities for collaboration, and to stimulate new ideas.

The event gathered top Chinese scholars of IC design and engineers who have published papers at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (San Francisco) or in the Journal of Solid-State Circuits (IEEE/USA) in the past two years. The keynote speakers came from esteemed institutes such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, UM, and UESTC. 39 leading experts in the field, including Prof Mak Pui In, deputy director of UM’s State Key Laboratory of Analog and Mixed-Signal VLSI and fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Wu Huaqiang, the first dean of Tsinghua University’s School of Integrated Circuits, and Du Xueliang, senior engineer of smart chips at Baidu, shared their insights and research findings on a wide range of topics, including analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits, digital and machine learning, wireless and wireline communications, power supply, and ultra-low power.

Members of the organising committee of ICAC 2021 include Prof Wang Zhihua of Tsinghua University and Prof Rui Martins of UM, both of whom were honorary chairs of the committee; Prof Mak Pui In of UM and Prof Li Qiang of UESTC, both of whom were chairs of the conference; as well as Prof Lu Yan of UM, Prof Sun Nan and Prof Liu Yongpan of Tsinghua University, and Prof Zhao Dixian of Southeast University, who were chairs of the technical committee.