On June 6th, the China Securities Regulatory Commission approved the IPO registration of Huahong Hongli Science and Technology Innovation Board. Huahong Hongli plans to raise 18 billion yuan, making it the third largest IPO in the history of the Science and Technology Innovation Board.

China Securities Regulatory Commission approves the IPO registration of Huahong Hongli Science and Technology Innovation Board

On June 6th, the official website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued an approval for the registration of Huahong Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Huahong Hongli")'s initial public offering of shares, agreeing to its registration application for initial public offering of shares.

According to the prospectus, Huahong Hongli plans to issue no more than 434 million new shares in this IPO, with a planned fundraising amount of up to 18 billion yuan.

Source: Shanghai Stock Exchange

Huahong Hongli is a world leading Foundry model enterprise with characteristic process, and also the largest Foundry model enterprise focusing on characteristic process in Chinese Mainland. According to the ranking data of global Foundry model enterprises' operating revenue in 2021 released by IC Insights, Huahong Hongli is the second largest foundry in Chinese Mainland and the sixth largest foundry in the world.

Huahong Hongli plans to raise 18 billion yuan in this IPO, making it the largest IPO on the Science and Technology Innovation Board this year. At the same time, the IPO of Huahong Hongli ranks the third in the scale of the IPO of the Science and Technology Innovation Board, second only to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation's 53.23 billion yuan and BeiGene's 22.16 billion yuan.

Featured process technology platform helps the company grow steadily

It is understood that since its establishment, the company has focused on the technological development of characteristic processes, established a comprehensive R&D innovation system, and has multiple globally leading characteristic process technology platforms.

The company has formed multiple representative products on the above-mentioned characteristic process platforms. In the field of embedded nonvolatile memory, the company is the world's largest smart card IC manufacturing OEM enterprise and the largest MCU manufacturing OEM enterprise in China.

In the field of power devices, the company is the Foundry model of power devices ranking first in the world in terms of production capacity, and the only one that has the capacity of both 8 inch and 12 inch power devices. It has the world's leading deep trench super junction MOSFET and IGBT technology.

On the independent non-volatile memory platform, the company provides NORD flash memory architecture technology based on independent intellectual property rights, and the products have a wide range of applications. On the simulation and power management platform, the company's BCD technology process is the first in the domestic Foundry model industry, and has achieved mass production on the 90nm process node.

In the field of logic and RF, the company has a self-developed RF SOI process platform. The company represents industry-leading technology research and development, production and manufacturing levels in the field of characteristic craftsmanship, and has a large number of domestic and foreign patents.

On the 8-inch Foundry model platform of 0.35 µ m to 90nm process nodes and the 12 inch Foundry model platform of 90nm to 55nm process nodes, the company has formed the industry's characteristic process platform covering the most comprehensive foundry services. The diversified technology categories can meet the application scenarios of different downstream markets and the diversified needs of different customers in the same market segment. In terms of various device performance, the company pursues a global leading level and helps customers benchmark their products against global high-end chips.

More than 4100 domestic and foreign invention patents

According to the recently released 2022 financial report data, during the reporting period, the company's R&D investment continued to increase, striving for comprehensive technological breakthroughs. As of December 31, 2022, the company had obtained over 4100 domestic and foreign invention patents.

The company's strong scientific research capabilities have been widely recognized in the industry and have undertaken multiple major scientific and technological projects. The company's technological achievements have successively won awards and honors such as the Second Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, the First Prize of the Shanghai Science and Technology Award, the Shanghai Quality Gold Award, the Excellent Academician Workstation, and the Shanghai Intellectual Property Innovation Award (Creation).

In addition to continuous investment in research and development, the company's core technical personnel have worked in the semiconductor field for decades, have rich research and development experience in different technical fields, and have forward-looking innovation capabilities for the future technological development trends of the industry. The core technical personnel of the company are stable, and their excellent research and development capabilities ensure the company's market sensitivity and scientific research level, ensuring that the company's product iteration can keep up with industry development trends and also meet the innovative needs of customers' end products. As of December 31, 2022, the company has a total of 1195 R&D personnel, accounting for 17.68% of the total number of employees.

How to Protect Intellectual Property Rights in Enterprise IPO

For technology companies, intellectual property protection is an important guarantee for whether their R&D investment can be converted into a competitive advantage, and it is also a top priority for companies in the listing process.

Therefore, if a company is preparing to apply for listing on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, it should focus on its own core technologies and products, and make intellectual property planning and layout in advance. So what should companies specifically do?

Firstly, companies planning to go public should effectively strengthen independent innovation, continuously increase research and development investment, and truly form their own core technologies and products to ensure that they meet the requirements of the Science and Technology Innovation Board for the innovation attributes of enterprises.

Secondly, it is necessary to effectively enhance the awareness of intellectual property rights, combine the actual research and development, production, and operation of enterprises, formulate effective enterprise intellectual property strategies for various types of intellectual property rights such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, and technical secrets, establish a comprehensive intellectual property management system throughout the entire process, carry out a comprehensive intellectual property layout around the core technology and products of enterprises, and build an independent intellectual property system for enterprises, Let intellectual property, especially patents, truly reflect the core creativity of enterprises.

Finally, it is necessary to apply for intellectual property registration in advance, and to plan and layout intellectual property rights such as trademarks, patents, and copyrights in advance.

The second is to comprehensively investigate and eliminate hidden dangers.

Before submitting an IPO registration application, it is necessary to conduct intellectual property due diligence in advance and carefully investigate the risks and hidden dangers of intellectual property, especially whether the intellectual property rights of the enterprise, such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, software copyrights, and technical secrets, involve the ownership, formation, disposal, and circulation of rights, with a focus on investigating whether the core technology has been fully patented and whether the intellectual property held is at risk of infringement, Is the intellectual property held