In the production workshop of Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co., Ltd., a batch of remote-sensing satellites is undergoing orderly final assembly and testing. In the near future, they will head into space, continuing to expand the Jilin-1 satellite constellation and unfolding Changchun's blueprint of aerospace optoelectronics.

Chang Guang Satellite is one example of Changchun's ongoing drive to pursue optoelectronic development and build up its industrial strength. As the province's "No. 1 Project," Changchun is going all out to facilitate the high-quality development of its optoelectronic information industry. Within the framework of building a modern industrial system that features "transformation of 3 traditional robust industries, advancement of 4 strategic emerging industries, and deployment of 7 future industries," the city has adopted "Optoelectronics +" as a new growth engine. It has rolled out a combination of interlocking initiatives, implemented the Three-Year Action Plan for Starlight Cultivation of the Optoelectronic Information Industry, introduced and enforced the robust "supporting 20 policies for the optoelectronic information industry." Staying focused on the goal of building "China's Optoelectronics City," the city has coordinated its overall industrial layout to stimulate the growth of the core optoelectronic information sectors, empower leading enterprises to spearhead development, and enable enterprises that use special and sophisticated technologies to advance side by side. As a result, a complete optoelectronic information industry chain marked by concentrated factors of production, a surge of innovation, and vigorous vitality is rapidly taking shape in the "Spring City" of northeast China.

Forging Industrial Clusters into Momentum and Building a Multitiered Industrial Matrix

As the 17th state-level new area in China, Changchun New Area serves as an important carrier for the city's optoelectronic information industry. Among the city's six major industrial clusters, Changchun New Area enjoys prominent comparative advantages in four sectors, namely satellite technology and applications and low-altitude economy, optoelectronic materials and displays, optoelectronic sensing and instruments, and laser technology and applications. "With a firm focus on the development of 'China's Optoelectronics City,' the New Area has established an optoelectronic information office and concentrated its efforts on strengthening the leading industry of optoelectronic information."

Changchun New Area has gathered 367 optoelectronic information enterprises, including over 40 enterprises above designated size. It has 4 national-level single-product champion demonstration enterprises in manufacturing, 2 unicorn companies, 1 STAR Market-listed enterprise, 14 leading enterprises in niche sectors, 15 national-level "little giant" enterprises that use special and sophisticated technologies to produce novel and unique products, 25 provincial-level enterprises that use special and sophisticated technologies to produce novel and unique products, and 137 high-tech enterprises, with over 500 independent intellectual property patents. Benchmark enterprises including Chang Guang Satellite Technology, Changchun Guanghua Microelectronics Equipment Engineering Center, Changchun Yuheng Optics and China Machine Testing Equipment lead the way, while leading enterprises in niche sectors such as Jilin OLED Material Tech, Changchun Hyperions Technology, Cedar Electronics, Changguang Zhiou and Jilin Yongli Laser are achieving vigorous development. Changchun New Area has built a well-structured and full-chain industrial echelon.

Drawing on its profound scientific research accumulation, Changchun's optoelectronic information industry has formed an enterprise matrix featuring leading enterprises as the spearhead, single-product champions as the mainstay, and specialized and sophisticated enterprises thriving vigorously, closely interlinking industrial chains and unleashing industrial cluster effects. A number of enterprises derived from the technological achievements of the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have become the backbone of industrial innovation. "The development of 'China's Optoelectronics City' has brought two valuable opportunities to enterprises: first, the industrial agglomeration effect continues to manifest; second, policies and platforms keep providing empowerment," said Sun Shoufu, General Manager of Changchun Champion Optics Technology Co., Ltd. The company is dedicated to the R&D of high-end optical films and novel spectroscopic instruments, holding the key technology of "patterned coating," and its products serve multiple fields such as space remote sensing, semiconductor equipment, and biomedicine. Building on its technological strengths, the company is extending its layout upstream to optoelectronic process equipment, closing the loop of the "process-device-equipment" industrial chain, and deepening its participation in the construction of China's Optoelectronics City.

From chain-leading giants to emerging niche players, a multitude of enterprises have taken root in Changchun, growing in synergy and fueling innovation-driven industrial prosperity.

Overcoming Difficulties and Braving the "No Man's Land" of Technological Independence

Core technologies cannot be obtained through requests, purchases or pleadings. Anchoring in niche sectors and focusing on problems in main businesses, numerous optoelectronic enterprises in Changchun have fostered a number of industry's "hidden champions" to break through continuously, propelling multiple technologies and products to reach first-class domestic and international levels.

In the field of optoelectronic displays, Cedar Electronics focuses on flip-chip COB fine pitch display technology and breaks multiple technological bottlenecks in key technologies such as fine pitch display and ultra-high definition imaging, making its products take the lead in China's emerging display industry. Jilin OLED Material Tech focuses on the R&D and production of OLED luminescent materials and key segments of the industrial chain. Its products consistently rank among the top three in domestic market share.

In the laser industry, Jilin Yongli Laser has consistently ranked first in both production capacity and sales volume of CO₂ laser products nationwide, leading the domestic laser application market. Changchun Yuheng Optics and Changchun Rongde Optics dedicate themselves to optoelectronic sensing and instruments, holding a pivotal market position in industrial precision measurement and intelligent sensing.

In the field of microelectronics equipment, Changchun Guanghua Microelectronics Equipment Engineering Center has forged a path of breakthrough through domestic substitution. Its self-developed LTR series laser trimmers occupy more than 60% of the global mid-to-high end market share. The first self-developed domestic set of 12-inch fully automatic commercial wafer probe station achieves a positioning accuracy of plus or minus 1.0 micrometers, stepping into the internationally advanced ranks. The company has completed the R&D of the prototype for wafer stealth dicing equipment, which will achieve large-scale mass production within two years and completely break the market blockade by foreign enterprises.

In the commercial space sector, Chang Guang Satellite Technology has continued to enhance Changchun's calling card as a hub of commercial space industry. On the one hand, it focuses on the construction of satellite mass-production capability, strengthens the Jilin-1 satellite constellation, provides customized satellite products, and builds Changchun's industrial brand as a prime choice for satellite manufacturing. On the other hand, based on massive remote sensing data, it amplifies the resources of more than 1,500 registered users in the "Jilin-1" Remote Sensing Mall and outputs demonstration models.

Cultivating the Ecosystem and Embarking on a New Journey toward a 100-Billion-Yuan Industry

The power of one beam is limited, and only when thousands of beams converge can they illuminate the journey of revitalization. Building "China's Optoelectronics City" is not only the technological breakthrough of individual enterprises, but also the systematic upgrading of the city's innovation ecosystem. Changchun adheres to driving industrial innovation with sci-tech innovation, unblocking the full chain from scientific research achievements to commercialization, continuously improving innovation platforms, strengthening the introduction and cultivation of talents, and optimizing the business environment.

Leveraging the source innovation of major research institutes, academies, and universities, Changchun actively promotes the quality and efficiency improvement of the Changbaishan Laboratory and various incubation platforms, transforming more laboratory achievements into market products. Guided by chain-leading enterprises, it drives the collaborative development of supporting enterprises, promotes the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain to achieve nearby matching and collaborative tackling of key problems, reduces innovation costs, and magnifies the cluster effect. The city provides targeted measures based on specific conditions, issuing a series of supporting measures around the optoelectronic information industry to safeguard enterprises in R&D breakthroughs, capacity expansion, and market development. 

From the "Cradle of Optics" to "China's Optoelectronics City," and from storing optical energy to promoting optical industry, Changchun's innovation vitality is fully surging. From optical materials and precision sensing to laser equipment and commercial space, Changchun has accelerated the high-quality development of the optoelectronic information industry.

Source: Changchun Daily Convergence Media  Editor: Liu Jiadi