1. Industry Risk Analysis

(1) Policy Risk

The integrated circuit industry faces the risk of dynamic policy adjustments: During the policy – making stage, international technology blockades and semiconductor industry support policies of various countries may lead to a sharp increase in market access barriers; during policy implementation, differences in local subsidy intensities and stricter environmental protection supervision increase the compliance costs of enterprises and the uncertainty of production capacity implementation; if the progress of domestic substitution fails to meet expectations during the policy evaluation period, fiscal and tax incentives may be reduced, affecting the return on R & D investment; during the policy adjustment stage, the risk of technology route selection becomes prominent. If the special support direction mismatches the technology path of start – up companies, they will lose their competitive advantages.

(2) Economic Risk

The integrated circuit industry currently faces the dual pressures of cyclical demand contraction and structural over – supply. The weak global consumer electronics market has led to a simultaneous decline in the quantity and price of chip orders. Start – up companies have high product tape – out costs, but the customer payment cycle has been extended, putting obvious pressure on their cash flow; there is a “scissors gap” between the expansion wave of upstream wafer fabs and the shrinking terminal demand. The inventory of mid – and low – end chips is severely overstocked, and price wars have intensified the erosion of profits; the technology iteration cycle of the industry has entered a “plateau period”. The R & D investment in advanced processes has doubled, but the commercial return cycle has been lengthened. Small and medium – sized enterprises have difficulty maintaining high – intensity R & D investment in the capital winter, and the risk of technology gap has increased significantly.

(3) Social Risk

The current integrated circuit industry faces social risks caused by inter – generational consumption differences: The rapid iteration demand of the younger generation for high – performance and low – energy – consumption chips promotes the pressure of technological innovation, forcing enterprises to continuously invest high – amount R & D funds. However, the traditional industrial market dominated by the middle – aged consumer group pays more attention to the stability of the supply chain, resulting in the risk of strategic fragmentation for enterprises; the emotional recognition of domestic chips by Generation Z and the path dependence of the older generation on international brands have created a market segmentation, intensifying the dual pressures of technological breakthrough and commercial realization for local enterprises; the inter – generational technological cognitive gap leads to a mismatch between the talent training cycle and the industrial upgrading speed, causing a structural shortage of talents and the pain of transformation for old employees, and amplifying the society’s anxiety about industrial autonomy under the background of global technology blockades.

(4) Legal Risk

The legal risks faced by entrepreneurs in the integrated circuit industry are mainly concentrated in three aspects: intellectual property rights, data compliance, and international supervision: Self – developed technologies are prone to fall into patent disputes, especially the complex overseas patent barriers leading to cross – border litigation risks; improper handling of sensitive data involved in chip design may trigger penalties under data regulations such as GDPR; domestic quality certification and environmental protection standards are becoming stricter. If the production process fails to meet the standards, enterprises will face suspension of production for rectification; international business is significantly affected by the fluctuations of export control policies. The dynamic adjustment of the US technology blockade list against China may lead to supply chain disruptions or product sales bans.

2. Entrepreneurship Guide

(1) Suggestions on Entrepreneurship Opportunities

The current entrepreneurship opportunities in the integrated circuit industry are focused on the demand for dedicated chips driven by AIoT, autonomous driving, and high – performance computing. There are windows of opportunity for domestic substitution, especially in niche areas such as edge computing chips, automotive – grade MCUs, and in – memory computing architectures; the application of third – generation semiconductor materials (gallium nitride/silicon carbide) in the new energy and fast – charging markets, as well as the optimization of characteristic processes under mature processes (such as analog chips at the 40nm – 28nm nodes); the development of RISC – V architecture ecosystem toolchains, chiplet heterogeneous integration solutions, and customized SoC designs for smart homes/industrial Internet all have high growth potential. It is recommended to first enter scenarios with strong policy support such as automotive electronics, industrial control, and biomedicine, rely on the transformation of achievements from university laboratories, and adopt the “IP core licensing + agile design” model to quickly commercialize technologies.

(2) Suggestions on Entrepreneurship Resources

Entrepreneurs in the integrated circuit industry should focus on obtaining policy resources, giving priority to connecting with national/local integrated circuit industry funds and tax incentives, and using the equipment sharing mechanism in chip industrial parks across the country to reduce initial investment; through industry – university – research cooperation, bind the resources of university microelectronics laboratories to obtain tape – out opportunities and technical verification support; focus on maintaining the production line schedule resources of wafer foundries and packaging and testing plants, and establish a flexible supply chain with at least two suppliers; join industry alliances to access the IP core licensing resource pool, and give priority to open – source architectures at mature process nodes to reduce design costs; form a practical team with tape – out experience and bind key technical personnel through equity.

(3) Suggestions on Entrepreneurship Teams

Entrepreneurs in the integrated circuit industry should focus on forming a complementary core team. On the technical side, recruit at least one engineer with experience in processes below 10nm or patents for advanced packaging, and match them with operational members with semiconductor supply chain management experience (such as resource integration of wafer fabs/packaging and testing plants), and also allocate business development talents familiar with emerging markets such as automotive electronics/AI chips. It is recommended to adopt a dynamic equity design (such as staged fulfillment of technical shares). At the same time, introduce a financial advisor with industrial merger and acquisition background, and establish a connection mechanism with the technical expert committees of leading enterprises in the industrial chain such as SMIC/Changjiang Electronics Technology to keep the team’s technical route in sync with the industry ecosystem for iteration.

(4) Suggestions on Entrepreneurship Risks

Entrepreneurs in the integrated circuit industry should first build a moat of core technology patents to avoid the risks of technology infringement and substitution; adopt a modular R & D process, verify the technical feasibility in stages, and control the R & D cycle and capital consumption. Establish a dual – supply chain system (such as domestic + Southeast Asia) to disperse geopolitical policy and supply – interruption risks, and simultaneously complete export compliance certifications such as those of the US BIS and EU dual – use items. In view of the capital – intensive nature, use a combination of “government special subsidies + industry fund gambling + market – based equity financing” to lock in cash flow and ensure coverage of tape – out fees and talent costs. On the market side, focus on areas favored by policies such as automotive – grade chips and RISC – V architectures, and use orders from leading automobile manufacturers/state – owned customers to support R & D and avoid the red – ocean competition in the consumer electronics market. Regularly participate in industry technology roadmap seminars to predict the iteration direction of process nodes and avoid the risk of technology obsolescence as soon as the production line is put into operation.