Recently, the inaugural "Xiang Zhi Xing Xiang" Conference kicked off grandly in Changsha. This provincial-level strategic event, which brings together global intellectual resources, is not only a key initiative for Hunan to realize its visionary "Three Highs and Four New" blueprint but also marks an important milestone in Changsha's accelerated efforts to become a global R&D hub city. Exwell Semiconductor, as a representative of Hunan's high-tech enterprises, was invited to attend the conference and showcased its groundbreaking technological achievement—the VCSEL vertical oxidation furnace—highlighting China's growing prowess in independently developing cutting-edge semiconductor equipment.

01 The "Hunan Practice" of the Global R&D Center

This conference was attended by Shen Xiaoming, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, and featured a speech delivered by Mao Weiming, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Governor of the province. Provincial leaders, including Mao Wanchun, Chairman of the Provincial Political Consultative Conference, jointly witnessed the event, fully demonstrating Hunan Province's unwavering commitment to its strategy of regarding "talent as the primary resource and innovation as the driving force." Governor Mao Weiming’s remark—that "Xiangzhizhi [Hunan Wisdom] is Hunan’s most precious asset"—accurately encapsulates the core mission of the conference: fostering collaboration among alumni returning to Hunan and entrepreneurs reuniting with their hometowns through the vital links of "attracting talent, nurturing talent, and putting talent to use," thereby empowering Hunan to become a pivotal national hub for talent and a leading center for innovation.

Currently, Changsha's efforts in building a global R&D center city have yielded remarkable results: the total number of R&D institutions has surpassed 3,800, including 152 national-level innovation platforms. Since the implementation of relevant policies, an additional 1,796 institutions have been established, doubling the city's overall R&D capacity. Exwell's participation and successful presentation at the event serve as a vivid example of how Hunan-based tech companies are deeply integrating into this strategic initiative and actively advancing the "4+4 Science and Innovation Project," injecting "semiconductor power" into the province's broader innovation blueprint.

02 China's Domestic Industry Takes a "Chip"-Based Leap in Substitution

At the exhibition venue, Exwell's VOF150-2 VCSEL vertical oxidation furnace stole the spotlight. As China's first low-temperature oxidation furnace designed specifically for the VCSEL side-oxygen process, this innovative machine boasts three key advantages: it supports 6-inch wafer processing, delivers temperature control accuracy as fine as ±0.5°C, features a constant-temperature zone length of 250mm, and can handle up to 25 wafers per batch. Leveraging its advanced multi-zone temperature control system and an adaptive PID-based dynamic thermal compensation algorithm, the furnace achieves a groundbreaking leap in process consistency for domestically produced equipment. Its core performance metrics are on par with the world's leading standards, not only filling the critical gap in high-end oxidation equipment within China but also setting new international benchmarks in terms of both low-temperature temperature control precision and uniformity.

This breakthrough directly addresses the critical bottleneck in the semiconductor industry chain, aligning closely with the "equipment self-reliance in advanced manufacturing," one of the 275 key provincial-level science and technology demands unveiled at the conference. It provides crucial equipment support, enabling Hunan's semiconductor industry to shift from "following" to "leading."

03 The "Core" Collaboration at the Innovation Hub

As a landmark technology of the photonics era, VCSEL technology spans strategic fields such as optical communications, laser displays, and 3D sensing—and is indispensable in emerging applications like autonomous driving LiDAR and facial recognition in smart devices. The industrialization of Exwell's device will directly propel Hunan Province toward establishing a complete "design-manufacturing-packaging" ecosystem within the semiconductor chip industry, fostering synergies with several leading semiconductor companies and top-tier universities, and helping Hunan solidify its national leadership position in the power semiconductor sector.

Standing at a historic juncture in the development of a global R&D hub city, Exwell will seize this opportunity presented by the conference to continuously fulfill its mission as the "pioneer driven by innovation." As Hunan embarks on its ambitious journey to build "three highlands," the company will spearhead breakthroughs in independently controlling semiconductor equipment, delivering a powerful response that embodies the spirit of "Wisdom Empowers Hunan." In doing so, Exwell will inject an unending stream of "chip-level" energy into Changsha's vision of becoming a world-class global R&D center city by 2030—ensuring cutting-edge technologies take root firmly in Hunan's fertile land and enabling innovative achievements to serve markets across the globe.